Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Minister for General Education and Labour V Sivankutty on Saturday dismissed BJP leader K Surendran’s claim that Hindutva ideologues V D Savarkar and K B Hedgewar would be included in the state’s school syllabus following Kerala’s decision to join the PM SHRI scheme.

Responding to Surendran, Sivankutty said the former BJP state president’s statement was part of a politically motivated propaganda and reflected his lack of understanding of Kerala’s education policy.

He clarified that the state signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to join the Centre’s PM SHRI solely to access funds to improve school infrastructure and academic standards — not to surrender Kerala’s syllabus to the Union government.

“Signing the PM SHRI MoU does not mean that the central syllabus will be implemented in Kerala. The state has its own strong and independent curriculum and educational vision,” the minister said.

Sivankutty added that Kerala would continue to uphold its secular and constitutional approach to education. “The Centre’s attempts to distort history and communalise education will not succeed in Kerala. The historical truth that Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, was assassinated by Nathuram Vinayak Godse cannot be erased from our textbooks,” he said.

He further clarified that the state government has no intention of teaching students about Hedgewar or Savarkar, as Surendran alleged. “The BJP’s efforts to create confusion in Kerala’s public education sector through such baseless statements will not succeed,” Sivankutty asserted.

Earlier, Surendran claimed that signing the PM SHRI MoU would allow the central government to intervene in school curriculum, as education falls under the concurrent list. “You call V D Savarkar an anti-national — that’s wrong. We will teach students the truth about Savarkar, who spent years in prison in the Andamans. Dr Hedgewar, founder of the RSS, and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya will also be part of the curriculum. Students should learn all aspects of history, not just about Nehru and Indira Gandhi,” Surendran said.

He added that Kerala, being part of India, should not refuse to implement a central scheme. “It is not right to say that Kerala will stay out of PM SHRI. Minister Sivankutty seems to have realised this now, and I believe Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also understood it,” he said. Surendran added that even a Congress-led government in Kerala would have had to sign the MoU.

The agreement was signed in New Delhi by Kerala General Education Secretary K Vasuki and officials from the Department of School Education & Literacy under the Ministry of Education. The move, made despite opposition from the CPI — a key ally in the ruling LDF — has triggered unease within the coalition. The Opposition UDF has also strongly criticised the state government’s decision to join the PM SHRI scheme.