IF you were to paint the Himachal Pradesh University campus at Shimla to reflect its students’ political leanings, the colours red and saffron would stand out in a sprinkling of Congress white. ‘‘It’s always been like this,’’ says a senior professor. ‘‘Even the hostels have their set affiliations.” But with the poll scene hotting up, it’s the excess of saffron at the top that’s worrying candidates. As if the anti-incumbency factor and corruption charges weren’t enough, the BJP government in Himachal is also under fire for stuffing all the top posts of the university with Sangh Parivar men and promoting RSS-run Saras-wati Vidya Mandirs — their number has snowballed from three dozen to 220 in their term — in the most literate state of Northern India. ‘‘It’s the beginning of saffronisation,’’ says Tikendra Parmar of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, which filed a petition challenging 24 teaching and non-teaching appointments in the university in August 2001. The NSUI also followed suit. Sanjeev Bhushan, the advocate who filed the DYFI case, reels off the long list of cases. ‘‘A total of 37 candidates, including 35 PhDs applied for two posts in the Physics Department. The two selected were the non-PhDs, one the president of ABVP and the other a nephew of CM Prem Kumar Dhumal.’’ In the department of Tourism Administration, he charges, the only post was given to an ABVP leader with a second division even though gold-medalists were also in the fray. In another instance, the wife of Health Minister J P Nadda was allegedly appointed lecturer in the History department, bypassing other candidates who had cleared the NET and had teaching experience. Even though V-C S D Sharma trashes these allegations (see interview), student leaders think otherwise. ‘‘Now you have to be either an RSS man or a relative of the ruling elite to gain a foothold in the varsity,’’ says Naresh Chauhan, spokesman of the HP Youth Congress. Sharma’s efforts to introduce subjects like astrology and karam kand have also raised questions. And a research paper on the underground Saraswati river by the Institute for Himalayan Studies is only adding grist to the anti-RSS mill. The galloping number of Saraswati Vidya Mandirs run in the state by RSS wing Vidya Bharti are also being cited as an example of saffron seeping into the state’s education system. Though Hem Chander, sangathan mantri of the Himachal Shakshi Samiti, claims that the boom has nothing to do with the state government, BJP patronage is an open secret. In December, Dhumal himself inaugurated an SVM in Bilaspur, and then exhorted an ACC official to donate computers to the school. For Subhash Medhapurkar, director of Sutra, a Solan-based NGO, it’s the discreet Sanskritisation that has not left untouched even government schools, that is a cause for concern. ‘‘At many schools, the state government has made Saraswati vandana compulsory besides replacing the national anthem with Vande Mataram.’’ Shakhas too are being popularised, says Subhash, and are religiously held in government schools that were prohibited from hosting these meets during the Congress regime. ‘‘Even a Congress stronghold like Nahan now has one.’’ It also has an SVM where Class II children with tilak-smeared foreheads say Hari Om instead of hello and where the traditional Panchang calendar is followed. Bilaspur has seven SVMs and four more under construction. ‘‘The school board is quick to give them affiliation and other benefits,’’ claims Rakesh Singha, state secretary of the CPI(M). C L Gupt, Himachal School Board chief, however, is quick to dismiss these charges. ‘‘Affiliation is given only on merit. And if promoting patriotism or Indian sanskaras is considered saffronisation, then we are doing it.’’
