BHOPAL: Around 4,000 newly recruited Madhya Pradesh police constables undergoing training at eight centres have been directed to read chapters from the 'Bhagavad Gita' every evening during the Hindu month of Margashirsha.

Additional Director General of Police (Training) Raja Babu Singh maintained that the initiative aims to guide trainee constables toward leading righteous and disciplined lives.

“It will help the newly recruited strike a balance between intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ). At a time when a young student is getting killed by on-duty constables in Bhopal, reading chapters of the Bhagavad Gita will certainly have a positive effect on the lives of the newly recruited cops,” the ADG (Training) told the TNIE on Friday.

“The Margashirsha month which started from Thursday, as per scriptures is the month of Lord Krishna. He himself says in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita that ‘Masaanam Margashirshoham’, meaning I am Margashirsha among months. The superintendent of police (SPs) of all police training schools have been asked to make the recruits undergoing training there, to read one chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, if possible, before the meditation at night throughout the holy month of Margashirsha. Reading the Bhagavad Gita will help the recruits the art of living a spartan life,” he added.

Notably, the directive comes four months after the ADG (Training) had encouraged recruits to recite verses from Goswami Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, believing it would instil discipline and ethical clarity among them.

The opposition Congress, however, has criticised the move, calling it an attempt to “radicalise and saffronise” the police force.

“In a democratic country like India, each and every individual is at liberty to follow their religion and faith. What has been directed by the ADG-Training is an attempt to radicalise the police force in MP. It’s not in line with the spirit of our country’s Constitution,” state Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta said, while slamming the state police’s training wing’s head.