Congress, TMC oppose minister's push for declaring the holy book national scripture
Flanked by religious leaders at a function to celebrate "5151 years of the Bhagwad Gita, "external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said it should be declared a national scripture, triggering a political controversy with the Trinamool Congress saying the Constitution, which described India as a secular country, was the "Holy Book" in a democracy.
"The formal announcement for it hasn't been made but Swamiji Maharaj, I am happy to say that the prime minister has already given it the honour of a national 'Rashtriya Granth' when he handed over the 'Shrimad Bhagwad Gita' to America's president Barack Obama," Swaraj said speaking at 'Gita Prerna Mahotsav' at the Red Fort here. Modi had gifted a copy to Obama during his US visit in September.
This is not the first time that Swaraj is making a plea to make the Gita a national scripture. But the last time Swaraj said it, she was leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. In 2011, when external Affairs minister SM Krishna assured Parliament that India has registered its protest to the Russian government on a petition seeking a ban on Bhagvad Gita in a Siberian court, Swaraj had said, "The government should work towards removing the ban from Gita and should announce Bhagvad Gita the national book." Her remark made then came in for praise at the Red Fort function on Sunday.
However, hours after the conclave, the Trinamool Congress countered her comments saying "Our Constitution says India is a secular country. The Constitution is the Holy Book in a democracy."
The TMC leader in her tweet said, "We respect all Holy Books. Quran, Puran, Ved, Vedanta, Bible, Tripitak, Zend Avesta, Guru Granth Sahib, Gita – All are our pride."
Congress leader Manish Tewari said the essence of the Gita lies in its substance and not in its symbolism. "So, if anybody has seriously read and internalised the teachings of the Gita, they would not make such a frivolous statement," he said.
Addressing the gathering at Red Fort, Swaraj said the teachings of the Gita helped her in facing the complex challenges as an external affairs minister. She said the Bhagwad Gita had answers to everybody's problems and that's why she had said in Parliament that it should be declared as the national holy book. "Everyone should read two shlokas of Gita every day…it is a scripture of 700 shlokas and it can be finished in a year....Read it again and continue this till the end. After reading it three to four times, you will discover a path to lead a life, the way I discovered," she said, addressing the crowd.
She also said it was better to read the Gita than eat chocolates or pills to fight depression and deal with challenges in life. "When I read Gita for the first time, I did not agree with the concept of whatever happens, happens for the best and whatever happens in future, will be for good. But when I read it for the third and fourth time, I understood its meaning. This has helped me all through my life. Even now, when I am handling the external affairs and the challenges related to it," Swaraj said.
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