The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has expressed shock towards the decision of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) in Kerala to appoint Arabic language teachers in schools. Condemning this, Alok Kumar, advocate, central working chairman of VHP, said that Arabic is not an Indian language and is not even in the schedule of Indian languages in the Constitution of India.
Arabic is widely studied for reading, understanding and memorising the holy Quran and hence, teaching it in schools run by Hindu devotees with funds dedicated to temples is an unreasonable expense.
TDB, which was constituted under the TravancoreCochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, has three members. Two of whom are elected by the Hindu members of Kerala Council of Ministers and the third is elected by the Hindu members of the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
Therefore, it is clear that all three members are nominated from the ruling party of the state.
The VHP central working chairman also said that such a step was another attack on Hindus by members nominated by the Left Front government. He added that the money devoted by the Hindus to their deities being used in teaching the Arabic language is not acceptable. Reproving the decision, he called on the board to withdraw this action and has asked the people of Kerala to resolutely oppose it.
Alok Kumar also mentioned that the Sanskrit language is an invaluable treasure of Indian spiritual heritage in the tradition of millennia and its teaching should be made compulsory in the schools run by TDB.