Cow-rearing, naturopath Governor is Chancellor pick by Univ set up by Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was the first Chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith, with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel taking up its chancellorship after his death. Patel was succeeded there by India’s first President Rajendra Prasad.

By virtue of his gubernatorial office, Devvrat, 63, is the Chancellor of 20 state universities, but the Gujarat Vidyapith’s chancellery, which has a term of five years, will be a unique feather in his cap. If Devvrat accepts the Gujarat Vidyapith’s offer, he may become the first “non-Gandhian” Chancellor of the 102-year old institution, its several alumni say.

Devvrat, who hails from Haryana’s Panipat, is a naturopath, who has practised naturopathy for many years. He has extended his “passion” of cow rearing and natural farming by opening a “Rajbhavan Gaushala” in Gandhinagar in 2020. He has been the Gujarat Governor since July 2019. His office had returned the stray cattle control bill passed by the BJP-led government in the state Assembly, with the government recently scrapping the legislation.

The Gujarat Vidyapith’s move has sparked a row, with questions about the definition of a Gandhian returning to haunt the hallowed institution. In 2007, Gandhi’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi had refused its chancellorship on the ground that he was “not a habitual khadi wearing person”. A member of the Gujarat Vidyapith’s Board of Management said, “Whom will you call a Gandhian? He (Devvrat) wears dhoti and khadi, has a simple living, is very disciplined and follows other Gandhian ideology. If he accepts the request it will be very good for Vidyapith as he is currently and in the past too has been following and implementing what Gandhiji had propagated.”

During his tenure in Gujarat so far, Devvrat has given his assent to several bills including the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which penalises forcible or fraudulent religious conversion through marriage, Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition)(Amendment) Bill 2022, while also clearing a raft of legislation for establishing universities.

Before his appointment to the Gujarat Raj Bhavan, Devvrat had been the Himachal Pradesh Governor for nearly four years since August 2015. Earlier, he had been the Kurukshetra Gurukul principal since 1981 and remains its patron.

“He (Devvrat) was influenced by the principles of Swami Dayanand Saraswati from the very beginning and joined the Arya Samaj. In 1981, when he took charge of Gurukul in Kurukshetra, he became Acharya Devvrat. He is a good teacher, agriculturist with extensive spiritual knowledge and devoted his life to gau sewa and natural farming. He speaks on natural farming with his personal experience”, says senior BJP leader and ex-education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.

Om Prakash Dhankar, senior BJP leader and ex-Haryana minister, told The Indian Express that he has known Devvrat since 1990s when they had along with Haryana farmers been opposing the GAAT Treaty. “Since then we have been close friends. Later, he (Devvrat) was also appointed as a member of the Board of Management for Haryana Agricultural University. Along with simple living he follows principles of Arya Samaj, performs hawan every morning.”

Dhankar said, “Devvrat has been a good administrator for Kurukshetra Gurukul and run it very well. So much so that it started with few children and now they are in thousands. Despite admission on grounds of merit, parents queue up and approach for admissions. So he has set up an exemplary Gurukul system. Second is natural farming which he still practises on the Gurukul land and strongly believes in and propogates the same.”

On the row over the Gujarat Vidyapith’s bid to offer its chancellorship to Devvrat, Chudasama says, “Those who say that only a Gandhiwadi can become the Chancellor are not aware that the Governor has all Gandhian qualities. Not only does he believe in Gandhiji’s ideology but also it is in his conduct. To be called Gandhiwadi and live like Gandhi are different things. It (Gujarat Vidyapith) has been good but he will run it better. He will do such work that Gujarat Vidyapith will get the acknowledgment in the country.”

Devvrat has a Master’s degree in History and Hindi along with a diploma in Yoga Science. He has practised yogic science and naturopathy for 22 years.

He encourages and practises natural farming dependent on indigenous cow breeds. According to the Raj Bhavan website, he has “40 years’ experience in cow rearing and cow breed improvement work” and 13 years experience in “low cost natural farming”. He

has even earned the praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for these initiatives. Due to his keen interest in natural farming, from the academic session 2022-23, under his supervision, a curriculum on it has been framed for the Agricultural Universities in 4th and 6th semesters.

In his address to the Kamdhenu University convocation last year, Devvrat said he has applied the natural farming methods on his 200 acre land in Haryana and that with “zero cost” his produce has been more than the farm output based on chemicals and fertilisers.

He had then said that the Gujarat government had, on his recommendation, agreed to give Rs 900 per month for keeping indigenous cows to those farmers who followed natural farming methods, disbursing Rs 48 crore to over one lakh farmers in December 2020.

He had then also said that he kept 350 cows of seven indigenous breeds including Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Haryanavi, Rathi, Gir and Lal sindhi, adding that “I have worked on improving their breeds. As a result, now there are cows that give 15 to 24 litre per day milk. So if we work on such cattle this will not only increase farmers’ income but also help in people’s health as research conducted in Australia and New Zealand on A1 and A2 milk have proved that A2 milk which is found in Indian bred cattle is good for health.”

Devvrat has been calling upon the people to come out of the “slavery mindset”, especially the Macaulay system in education, and understand the Indian Gurukul system. His website states that his “aim and objective” is to “establish and enhance the ancient glory of Vedic culture and tradition and to develop scientific understanding in human beings”.

Meanwhile, the Congress sharply criticised the Gujarat Vidyapith’s move, hitting out at the BJP dispensation over it. Gujarat Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani said, “The Congress too ran the country and established several educational institutions where there was freedom and no government interference… How can they (saffron camp) propagate Gandhian ideology of ahimsa and non-violence. It is a well-planned strategy, be it Gandhi Ashram, Gujarat Vidyapith or any other institution, everywhere they are interfering and trying to finish off them.”