Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria on Saturday said that '<em>bhagwakaran</em>' (saffronisation) of education will definitely take place in India.

At a time when the Narendra Modi-led central government has come under immense criticism over Raghuram Rajan's announcement in his farewell letter that he will not be renewing his term after September, this BJP leader is not making matters any easier for the party.

In a classic foot-in-mouth situation, Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria on Saturday said that 'bhagwakaran' (saffronisation) of education will definitely take place in India. Speaking at an event, Katheria, who is Minister of State in the HRD ministry, went on to say that saffronisation and 'sanghwad' will be good for the country and is inevitable.

"Reporters told us that some people are saying that our government is saffronising education in the country. I am saying this today: Saffronisation will definitely take place in education and in the country," said Katheria.

Whatever is good for the country will be done,whether it is 'Bhagwaakaran' or 'Sanghwaad':Union minister RS Katheriahttps://t.co/orrtCuPV1I — ANI (@ANI_news) June 19, 2016

"Whatever is good for the country will definitely take place, whether it is bhagwakaran or sanghwad," the Union Minister further said.

"For a very long time, we just kept watching. We did not make any allegations against anyone. But today, keeping in mind the state of the country, whatever is necessary for the welfare of the nation and its reputation in the world will take place," Katheria said.

As if his remarks were not controversial enough, Katheria also had this to add about educating the country's children: "If our children do not read about Maharana Pratap or Maharaj Shivaji, then will they read about Genghis Khan?"

We are extremely curious about what HRD Minister Smriti Irani has to say about the aggressive, communal and divisive stand taken by a BJP leader, who also happens to be the MoS in the HRD ministry, especially since Irani had earlier said that the Modi government was not saffronising education in India.

In June last year, Irani had said, "I never ask students about the religion as we do not discriminate the right of a student to education on the basis of caste or religion."

(With inputs from PTI)