Rollback ‘Privatization’ of Sainik schools to BJP, RSS: Congress Prez Kharge writes to President Murmu in 'National Interest'

Demanding a complete roll back of the policy and the nullification of MoUs signed by the Centre to ‘privatize’ Sainik Schools, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu.

Referring an investigation report based on an RTI reply, Kharge in his letter to President Murmu claimed that Sainik Schools are being privatized using a new PPP model by the government and at least 62% of these schools are now owned by the BJP-RSS leaders.

According to the Congress President, there are 33 Sainik schools nationwide that are entirely supported by the government and run by the Sainik Schools Society (SSS), an independent organisation within the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The Indian military has historically refrained from getting involved in partisan politics, but Kharge said that the federal government has "broken" this long-standing tradition.

My letter to the Hon'ble President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) on the blatant step by Modi Govt to politicise the independent Sainik Schools, and sign MoUs with the majority of BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders, in this regard.

Sharing the text of the letter -

1. You are aware,… pic.twitter.com/X7iABJvuI1

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 10, 2024

The report submitted by Kharge also claims that out of 40 MoUs that have been signed, 62 have been signed with organizations and individuals connected to BJP and RSS, which includes, families of chief ministers, several MLAs, BJP- office bearers and RSS leaders.

However, the Defence Ministry, in one of its recent statements has refuted the claims that Sainik Schools were allocated to the institutions based on their political or ideology affiliations.