Haryana organises special camp to make villages ideal, cultured and stress-free: Report

File Pic: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar

The 'sanskari' term for villagers in Haryana began on Monday when the state’s development and panchayat department organized a special camp in Bhiwani district to hear out Swami Giananand, head of Kurukshetra-based Global Inspiration and Enlightment Organization, reports The Times of India.

To make the villages ‘adarsh’ (ideal), 'sanskarwan' (well-cultured) and 'tanavmukt' (stress-free), the Haryana government led by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has turned to babas.

During the address, the religious leader said the Bhagavad Gita is heritage and culture of the country and should be spread to every household and every person. He added that only Gita can inculcate cultural values in a child.

He also appealed to the gathering that besides Gita, they should also respect cow, Ganga and Gayatri mantra. "Impatience, physical deformities and other problems in the society are rising because people are running away from Gita. It is Gita only that helps in attaining spiritual enlightenment," he added.

While attendance was compulsory for all sarpanches and secretaries of panchayats in Bhiwani district, the district development and panchayat officer (DPPO) Bhiwani had sent an official communication on July 25 to the block development and panchayat officers (BDPOs) of several blocks of Bhiwani district to ensure the presence of all village sarpanches and secretaries at the event.

The DPPO letter had also listed he agenda of the event as making the villages ideal cultured and stress-free. The letter also referred to Swami Giananand as maha mahim (His Excellency) a term which is exclusively used for governors.

The move was criticised by fomer chief parliamentary secretary and Congress spokespersonRa Singh Maan who said, "Unfortunately, instead of focusing on public administration, the government is focusing on imposing saffron ideology on the public representatives and government officials."