The Union government's move to change the name of Teachers' Day to Guru Utsav, Union human resources development minister Smriti Irani clarified that only the annual all-India essay writing competition had been named Guru Utsav 2014 and there was no such effort by her ministry. "If anybody has any objection to the fact that teachers are to be revered, it is an objection that I regret."
The minister got into fire-fighting mode and met journalists at party headquarters to dispel notions about the HRD program in order to assure southern parties like the DMK, MDMK and PMK, that Guru Utsav was no attempt to impose Sanskrit on others. Irani also regretted that a number of political voices have been raised against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to schoolchildren on September 5.
"Why cannot the PM address the schoolchildren? It is not mandatory for schools to listen to the address. It is voluntary. It is up to the states, whether they want their schoolchildren to participate in the PM's address or not" She added in meeting.
States such as West Bengal and parties like the Congress have red-flagged the address, particularly questioning the long hours the children will be required to spend in school at 7.30am to 5pm on Teachers' Day, as the timing of the PM's address is 3pm to 4.45pm. Opposition parties have even suggested that the PM change the timing of his address. Modi will give a pep-talk to about 1,000 selected students at the Manekshaw Auditorium in Delhi on September 5th and interact with them, taking questions through a video-conferencing facility.
