UJJAIN: Amid Sanskrit hymns and chants from the Vedas at the Gurukul festival organised by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, an organisation affiliated to the RSS , Sangh bigwigs told the government that in the process of bringing back the past, it should ensure that no discrimination of any kind entered the new schools.Madhya Pradesh chief minister Chouhan has already said that since the ancient system of imparting education was the best way to ensure holistic development of children, the state government would soon start registering gurukuls and also treat them on par with other schools.RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi, while speaking to ET, said social reform was an important part of establishing equality and that the Sangh’s efforts were geared towards creating an inclusive Hindu society. “The politics of it is another matter, but the Sangh has faith in the common man. We believe that some corrections have to be made.The gurukul way of learning that we are trying to encourage now will have no space for any discrimination between people based on caste or birth. It is nothing but sinful to discriminate anyone based on his birth or caste,” he added.Nearly 800 gurukuls from across the country participated in the three-day event organised at a massive scale, attended by Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Satyapal Singh.Traditionally, only the upper castes were seen as custodians of the Vedas, a perception that RSS says it wants to change. At the gurukul event, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said the reading and interpretation of shastras have to change because the times have changed. “There are many sampradayas (traditions), belief systems in our country which need to be accommodated,” Bhagwat added.Joshi said education was not just making a person literate. “He also has to be empowered with the information that tells him what is right and what is wrong. The Sangh has been working at the uplift of the depressed classes for many years and the need now is to increase the quantum of work that we are doing.We don’t believe the government can do this alone. Society has to be equally responsible,” he said. The RSS has strengthened its efforts at reaching out to Dalits — it has a problem with the term ‘Dalit’ and prefers using ‘SC/ST’. Recently, as a pilot project, it sent volunteers to two constituencies in New Delhi to find students from Dalit households who can be trained for Civil Services While the RSS leaders kept stressing on need for samajik samarastha, a programme started by the RSS to ensure “one well, one temple, one crematorium” for all Hindus, the Virat Gurukul Sammelan started with a yagna on Saturday morning and the medium of most cultural programmes was Sanskrit.While Sanskrit is seen as a language of the upper caste, a senior RSS leader said the notion that the RSS had only upper caste cadre was completely wrong. “The number of inter-caste marriages that have happened in the RSS is any day more than what happens in the liberal society.We believe in a positive engagement with our past with a consciousness that some things have to be corrected as we go along.” In the Sangh, he said, it was a practice to never “ask anyone what his caste was”.Buddhist guru Rahul Bodhi commended the government and the Sangh’s efforts in reaching out to the Dalits. “They have been constantly talking about it, they organised Ambedkar Jayanti at such a big scale. It speaks of their intent.”Hindu seer Govindgiri Maharaj , while speaking at the event, said Dharampal’s book on ancient Hindus showed “that gurukuls were open to students of all castes and that they were primarily for upper caste was a notion spread only to damage their reputation”.