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Pednekar Withdraws Plan to Mandate Manache Shlok in BMC Schools

The reversal highlights a fight over what counts as secular teaching in Mumbai’s civic classrooms.

Overview

  • Kishori Pednekar withdrew the plan and apologized for linking the verses to B. R. Ambedkar after objections from AIMIM.
  • Her motion sought daily recitation in BMC-run schools and in private schools where Marathi is a compulsory subject.
  • It also asked the civic administration to set a fixed time and a dedicated room in each school for the chanting.
  • AIMIM leader Vijay Ubale rejected the plan as religious teaching in secular schools and urged lessons on the Constitution and fundamental duties instead.
  • Manache Shlok is a 205-verse work by 17th-century saint Samarth Ramdas Swami that backers present as moral guidance, a claim now likely to shape future curriculum debates in the BMC.