Children's Day is the latest arena for politics between the Congress-led Centre and BSP-led Uttar Pradesh, which is going to assembly polls in early 2012. Millions of children in India's biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, will not get Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's inspirational message on how education can change one's life on November 11, three days ahead of the children's day.
HRD ministry had decided that headmasters in 14 lakh elementary schools in India will read the PM's message, where he recalls his tough days as a school going child in Chakwal, now in Pakistan, and his gradual rise to become Prime Minister.
"I went to a school in a village that had no electricity. My village did not have a pukka road or fast vehicles. I would walk miles to reach my school...I worked as hard as I could and the nation has always rewarded me for my efforts," the PM recalled.
He also said that during his school days school education was not free and it was not a fundamental right as now guaranteed by Right To Education Act, while inspiring children to use education to "rediscover themselves" and realise their "aspirations".
The HRD ministry had decided to send the PM's message to create awareness about Right To Education (RTE) and ensure all schools comply with RTE standards by 2013.
Mayawati led Uttar Pradesh government has sensed electoral politics in the Prime Minister's message and has not distributed his message to over three lakh schools in the state. The apparent reason is the failure of the Centre to provide money to distribute the PM's message but, in actual, it is party politics.
Even the BJP ruled states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which are also going to polls in early 2012, have not taken extreme step as UP. These states have decided that message from state chief minister's message will be read along with that of the Prime Minister.
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