{"id":16905,"date":"2016-08-19T14:55:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T09:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=16902&amp;preview_id=16902"},"modified":"2016-08-19T14:55:31","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T09:25:31","slug":"bjp-corporator-proposes-mandatory-yoga-surya-namaskar-in-bmc-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=16905","title":{"rendered":"BJP corporator proposes mandatory Yoga, Surya Namaskar in BMC schools | The Indian Express"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><span class=\"custom-caption\">The proposal is expected to be hotly opposed by the Samajwadi Party, which has said this would amount to \u201cmixing of education and religion\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A Bharatiya Janata Party corporator has moved a proposal to make Yoga and Surya Namaskar mandatory in schools run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. While a discussion on the proposal is awaited, the Shiv Sena, the larger party in the BMC, said it believed training in martial arts would be more welcome. The proposal is expected to be hotly opposed by the Samajwadi Party, which has said this would amount to \u201cmixing of education and religion\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/tag\/bjp\/\">BJP<\/a> corporator from Mulund Samita Kamble moved the proposal a fortnight ago, saying Yoga and Suryanamaskar would help students of the 1,285 BMC schools maintain fitness. \u201cYoga is a world renowned exercise for fitness. Surya Namaskar is also categorised under Yoga.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing wrong in doing exercise for fitness. It\u2019ll be wrong to give it any religious colour,\u201d she told <a href=\"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/\">The Indian Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Kamble said she wanted to make these exercises mandatory in all civic schools, including the nearly 400 Urdu-medium ones.<\/p>\n<p>The Samajwadi Party has already raised its objection to the proposal, which is slated for discussion at the BMC\u2019s general body meeting on August 23. \u201cChildren from all religions study in civic schools. Suryanamaskar is related to the Hindu religion and it will not be right to make it compulsory for students of other religions. This is impinging on the religious freedom of other communities guaranteed under our Constitution,\u201d said Rais Shaikh, corporator from Govandi and senior Samajwadi Party leader in the BMC, adding that he would ask Mayor Snehal Ambekar to outright reject Kamble\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Shaikh said corporators from other religions might also move similar proposals in the future. \u201cEducation should not be mixed with religion. This is an attempt to create a rift between religions. The BJP has been attempting to saffronise education since coming to power at the Centre and in the state. The move seems to have been made keeping in mind the upcoming civic elections,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The Shiv Sena, which controls the BMC, said it would be better to offer martial arts training to students than Yoga and Suryanamaskar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIdeally, it should not be imposed on anybody. Martial arts training will help girls in self-defence and reduce crimes against women,\u201d said Trushna Vishwasrao, senior Shiv Sena corporator and leader of the House in the BMC.<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, Aaditya Thackeray, president of the Shiv Sena\u2019s youth wing, along with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, started a \u2018women\u2019s self-defence centre\u2019 in Andheri Sports Complex two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/tag\/congress\/\">Congress<\/a>, meanwhile, took a cautious view of Kamble\u2019s proposal stating that the issue was being played up for political gains ahead of civic elections. \u201cEven if the general body passes the proposal, it is not final. The civic chief will have to look into it,\u201d said Pravin Chheda, Congress corporator and Opposition leader in the BMC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The proposal is expected to be hotly opposed by the Samajwadi Party, which has said this would amount to \u201cmixing of education and religion\u201d. A Bharatiya Janata Party corporator has moved a proposal to make Yoga and Surya Namaskar mandatory in schools run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. While a discussion on the proposal is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1134],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}