Spiritual guru Rabi Shankar flays scholarship for minority student

Bhubaneswar, Sep 20 (UNI) Spiritual guru Ravi Shankar today criticised the Centre for announcing 25 lakh scholarships for the minority students in the country.

Talking to newsmen here, Sri Ravi Shankar said Prime Minister 'Manmohan Singh has dine a blunder by announcing such scholarship which he said had not only caused heartburn among the students but created a rift between the minority and majority.

'' I am completely opposed to such type of appeasement policy especially to the students, '' he said and described the action as a vote bank politics.

The Prime Minister instead of selecting the scholarship on religion basis should have taken the economic criteria, the spiritual guru said adding all economically weaker section should get the scholarship.

'' How in a class room you can decide one student to receive the scholarship on religion basis and deprive the other, '' he remarked stating that it was hopeless to grant scholarship to the students on minority basis.

Mr Ravi Shankar also disapproved the conversion going on in the country stating the people have the right to change the faith but this should not be done through false promises and denigrating other religion.

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