A PIL filed by Advocate M K Balakrishnan seeking to declare Bhagavad Gita as national text has been declined by Supreme Court saying that the subject falls outside its domain.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justices M Y Eqbal and ArunMihra said “How can we say. Every citizen has a mind-set which is a sacred book. How can we give a declaration”?
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in January had been pressing the Centre to declare Bhagavad Gita as a ‘RashtriyaGranth’ (national scripture) and said only formality remained to be done in this regard. Sushma Swaraj said while speaking at Red Fort at a”Gita PrernaMahotsav”, she could face the challenges as External Affairs Minister only because of the teachings of Bhagavad Gita.
Sushma further said “Bhagavad Gita has answers to everybody’s problems and that’s why I said it while standing in the Parliament that, ‘Shrimad Bhagavad Gita’ should be declared as the national holy book.”Sushma Swaraj said in a public meeting “PM Modi gifted the Gita to US President Barack Obama, which means it has already received the honour of a national scripture. What we require is only a formal announcement now.”
“Everyone should read two shlokas of Gita everyday…it is a scripture of 700 shlokas and it can be finished in a year. Read it again and continue this till the end. After reading it three to four times, you will discover a path to lead a life, the way I discovered,” she said, addressing the crowd.
Opposition parties Congress, Janata Dal (united) and Trinamool Congress opposed Sushma’s comments about this and Trinamool Congress tweeted “The constitution is the holy book in a democracy”. Manish Tewari Congress leader, said that the essence of the Bhagavad Gita lies in its substance and not in its symbolism.
Gita is the advice of Lord Krishna which is a part of epic Mahabharata and is a 700 verse Hindu scripture. Mahatma Gandhi also referred to Gita as his “spiritual dictionary”. PM Modi has gifted this book to Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Emperor of Japan when he visited Japan in September.
by Sushma Javare.