'Stop communalising Sainik Schools': CPI(M) says move 'loaded with potential to destroy secular standards'

Condemning the “communalising of Sainik Schools", Sitaram Yechury on Thursday said that Hindutava-run military schools have a potential to destroy the high secular standards of the Indian forces.

Yechury, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was reacting to a Reporters' Collective report that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government has facilitated the participation of private players to run Sainik Schools.

According to the report, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliates, BJP leaders, and other Hindutva groups, such as Sadhvi Rithambara have been chosen by the Ministry of Defence to run 60 per cent of new Sainik Schools.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the CPI(M) leader shared the link to the Reporters' Collective report along with the party's statement on the issue, and wrote: “Stop communalising Sainik Schools. CPI(M) Polit Bureau condemns this move that is loaded with the potential to destroy the high secular standards of our military establishments."

The CPI(M) in its statement said that the Sainik Schools have been traditionally run by the autonomous Sainik School Society and play an important role in nurturing students to get entry to the premiere National Defence Academy and the Indian Naval Academy.

"Eventually a substantial number of Sainik School pass outs occupy the higher echelons of India’s defence forces. This new policy is just not about sharing finances and infrastructure on a Public–private partnership (PPP) model."

Demanding that the government withdraw the move “to ensure the national and secular character of the ", the party said, “The schools that are entering into agreement with SSS and the government include a significant number of institutions with