Consensus on signing PM SHRI scheme eludes UDF govt. in Keralam

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government on Friday seemed to be struggling to settle on a plan to resolve the politically, legally, and financially fraught question of signing the “revanchist National Education Policy (NEP)-seeded” PM SHRI scheme, which allegedly whittles down secular and broad-based studies to promote a Hindu nationalist academic perspective, in return for sizeable federal funding for Keralam’s school education.

General Education Minister N. Samsudheen signalled that matters had come to a head, telling reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government had issued an ultimatum demanding that the State decide whether to sign up for the scheme. He said the ruling front must now reach a consensus before Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan declares Keralam’s course of action. “I cannot make a statement on my own,” he added.

Mr. Samsudheen’s words carried political significance after the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office-bearers’ meeting on Thursday ended without settling on a clear course of action concerning PM SHRI. The UDF is seeking to balance rising political scepticism from within the ruling front about PM SHRI against the scheme’s monetary benefits, which envisage federal funding ranging from₹1,400 to ₹2000 crore for school education. 

IUML against pact

Notably, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said the office-bearers’ meeting made little headway in addressing the PM SHRI question, and the party was awaiting the UDF-appointed Cabinet subcommittee’s report. Significantly, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and its students’ wing, the Muslim Student Federation (MSF), have repeatedly cautioned the government against signing the MoU.

They view the PM SHRI scheme as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Trojan horse to inject Hindu nationalist codes into secular and progressive school education. Mr. Satheesan has kept his cards close to his chest on the PM SHRI question. Nevertheless, the UDF government has sought political cover by arguing that the previous LDF dispensation had traded off ideology for pragmatism by signing the MoU with the Centre for PM SHRI funding without consultation in the Cabinet or the then ruling coalition. 

‘Legal constraints’

Mr. Satheesan has argued that, although the CPI(M) had kept PM SHRI implementation in limbo after the Communist Party of India (CPI)’s strident opposition, Keralam faced severe and almost insurmountable legal constraints on unilaterally withdrawing from the State’s MoU with the Centre. The UDF has also looked towards other Congress governments, including in neighbouring Karnataka, which has secured PM SHRI funding. The Congress appears to be playing for time to cobble together a consensus on the PM SHRI issue. Notably, the government has not set any deadline for the Cabinet subcommittee to submit its report.