SC Bench to hear case against recital of Sanskrit prayers in Kendriya Vidyalayas

How can a prayer which means ‘Lead me from darkness to light’ be called ‘religious’ when every student in the world gets educated for this purpose. Moreover, the prayer is in Sanskrit, which is the oldest language of India.

Hindus are indeed the enemies of Dharma. When a Hindu advocate files such a petition, he takes the country ‘From light to darkness’ !

New Delhi – A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will soon look into the question of the definition of ‘secularism’ and whether the use of Sanskrit hymns in school prayers violates the principles of secularism.

The Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran on 6^th January ordered that a PIL challenging a rule in the Kendriya Vidyalayas mandating the daily recital of a Shloka and prayer be heard by a larger Bench.

The plea has challenged the recital of the Sanskrit hymn ‘Asato ma Sadgamaya’ and a Hindi prayer at morning assemblies of students at Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country.

The PIL of advocate Vinayak Shah was filed before the Supreme Court in December 2017, with the Apex Court issuing notice to the Centre to respond to the PIL in January last year.

According to the plea, the Rules of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan violate the freedom of conscience under Article 25, freedom of expression under Article 19 as well as the ban on religious instruction under Article 28(1) of the Indian Constitution since Kendriya Vidyalayas are a Government-funded institution.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre opposed the PIL and argued that the prayer has no religious connotation and is secular in nature. “The prayer simply means lead me from darkness to light”, said Mehta. Justice Nariman, however, observed that the prayer was from the Upanishads.