The next academic session for MBBS students is likely to start by this year-end. (Representational)
Medical students in Madhya Pradesh will now learn about Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder Dr KB Hedgewar, Bhartiya Jan Sangh chief Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Dr BR Ambedkar among other leaders as part of the first-year foundation course.
According to Madhya Pradesh education minister Vishvas Sarang, chapters on these leaders which also include Swami Vivekananda, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Maharshi Charaka, one of the principal contributors to the Ayurveda, will be taught to MBBS students in medical colleges across the state.
Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a surgeon, founded the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh in Nagpur in 1925, based on the ideology of Hindutva. Deendayal Upadhyaya was one of the prominent leaders of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP.
The chapters will figure in the ethics part of the Foundation Course for newly-admitted MBBS first-year students.
The minister said the idea is to produce value-based individuals and teach them about icons who fought for country's independence. "We will include biographies of those who fought for our freedom and made a contribution to the foundation course of the National Medical Commission (NMC). The course will include the efforts of Dr Hedgewar, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay, Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Vivekanand among others," Mr Sarang said.
The opposition Congress in the state, however, questioned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's motive. It asked how a minister, and not a specialist in the subject, can decide what the MBBS students will study.
Former Pradesh Congress Committee chief Arun Yadav said, "Why only Hedgewar and Deendayal ji? BJP government should also teach children about Savarkar and Godse, so that they know how many times Savarkar wrote apologies to the British and Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation."
The next academic session for MBBS students is likely to start by this year-end. About 2,000 students take admission in the MBBS course every year in Madhya Pradesh.
(With PTI inputs)