Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], April 1 (ANI): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has demanded an apology from the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her criticism of the National Education Policy (NEP), stating that her remarks are the result of her 'limited knowledge.'

'Had Sonia Gandhi spoken on NEP 2020 after speaking with the educationists in the country, it would have been better. This is the result of her limited knowledge. For a long time after independence, Congress had reduced Education to a joke; this has been exposed. PM prepared the New Education Policy 2020, this was the third Education Policy after the ones in 1968 and 1986. On both earlier occasions, just the wrapper of Lord Macaulay's education policy was changed. Injustice was done to Maharana Pratap and Shivaji, and an attempt was made to glorify invaders,' CM Yadav told reporters.

He further said that the British and Congress ignored everything and enlarged the army of the unemployed.

'Under the leadership of PM Modi, meetings were held with over 2 lakh people, and the draft of this Education Policy was prepared...As the then State Education Minister, I am proud to say that ours was the first state to implement the Education Policy...Today, there are PM Excellence Colleges across 55 districts...It is very unfortunate that, in a way, Sonia Gandhi has mocked the intellectuals. She should apologise. Had she made someone intelligent write her speech, it would have been better,' he added.

Earlier, in an opinion piece in The Hindu, Sonia Gandhi had launched a fierce critique on the Centre on the issue of NEP, accusing it of implementing its 'three core agendas-centralisation, commercialisation and communalisation' in an opinion piece published today. She accused the union government of shutting down public schools and pushing people out of the education system.

The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, aims to upgrade India's education system, with the aim of implementing a slew of reforms. The National Policy on Education has been introduce thrice in the country's history.

The first was formulated in 1968, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the second policy was made in 1992 by the P V Narasimha Rao-led government, a modification of the 1986 policy. (ANI)