A post claiming that 20 government-funded universities in India offer courses to study the Quran, but none offer courses to study the Bhagavad Gita or Ramayana, is being widely shared across social media platforms (here, here, & here). In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Twenty universities in India offer courses to study the Quran, but none offer courses to study the Bhagavad Gita or Ramayana.
Fact: It is true that many universities in India offer courses on the Quran. However, it should be noted that many universities in the country also offer courses on the Bhagavad Gita. For example, educational institutes like Kurukshetra University, Indira Gandhi National Open University, and Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts offer courses on the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, and Mahabharata. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Many universities in India, such as Jamia Millia Islamia, Mohammad Ali Jauhar, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University, teach the Quran as part of their Islamic studies curriculum. However, it is an exaggeration to say that no university in India teaches the Bhagavad Gita or Ramayana, as claimed in the viral post.
Many universities in the country offer courses on the Bhagavad Gita. For example, Kurukshetra University introduced a course on the Bhagavad Gita in 2012. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) offers a Post Graduate Certificate Program on the Bhagavad Gita, and the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts has also been offering a course on Ramayana and Mahabharata for many years.
There are reports that Lucknow University introduced an online course on the Bhagavad Gita in 2020, and states like Gujarat and Karnataka have included the Bhagavad Gita in their school curriculum. In December 2021, responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Union Education Minister mentioned that content related to the Bhagavad Gita is already part of various classes under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) system. Moreover, the Bhagavad Gita is incorporated in the syllabus for the UGC-NET examination for the Yoga subject, and states have the flexibility to include it in their curriculum. Based on this information, it is evident that many educational institutions in India are actively teaching the Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana.
To sum up, several universities in India have been offering courses on the Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana for many years.