For a very long time, few communities have been given special treatment in the name of secularism, while others’ rights are trampled upon. Now, the pendulum is swinging. The recent suspension of a secular headmistress in Karnataka for allowing namaz inside the school premises is one such example.
Namaz inside school invites protests
Recently, a video went viral on the Internet in which students were seen offering Namaz on their school premises. Later, it turned out that the video was from Balechangappa government higher primary school in Kolar district. The place is located nearly 70 km from the state’s secretariat in Bengaluru.
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As soon as the video went viral, various people came out protesting against the unscrupulous use of school property. The protestors’ main contention was that Namaz inside school premises was biased and promoted a particular religion, which is against the ethos of modern democracy.
Additionally, they also alleged that it was no one-off incident. The Namaz has been going on since last December. According to a statement by Ramakrishna, a member of the protesting group and local resident, headmistress Uma Devi did not even consult any official before allowing Namaz inside the school.
Headmistress Uma Devi suspended
Meanwhile, the headmistress refused to acknowledge that she had given any sort of permission to offer Namaz inside School. Later, she came out with a well-crafted explanation for her decision to allow Namaz. According to Uma Devi, Namaz was permitted in order to ensure that more and more Muslim students take admissions in school.
After protests started to make headlines, the deputy director of public instruction (DDPI) and local officials visited the school. Later a report was submitted to the deputy commissioner of the district. Block Educational Officer (BEO) then decided to suspend the headmistress.
Explaining the rationale behind the decision to suspend, BEO said, “Muslim students are given permission to offer namaz during the break and usually they come back after that. But there is no permission to conduct prayers on the school campus, hence we suspended the headmistress,”
The education ministry is keeping a close watch
BEO informed that out of 375 students in school, 165 students belong to the Muslim community. She apprised that the administration does not have any issue with students performing Namaz. They just want that these students should be offering their Namaz in the mosque just outside the school building.
Meanwhile, things have elevated to the ministerial level. BC Nagesh, education minister of state has vowed to act against school officials. Reaffirming that school premises should not be used for prayers, Nagesh said, “The incident in Kolar is too bad. No institution can allow such things. We have asked all concerned officers to visit the school at the earliest. Since the two days after the incident were weekends, a visit to the school was not possible. Now, they will visit the school and give a detailed report on what transpired there. We will take strict action based on the report,”
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Protests against Land-Jihad
This is not a one-off instance when Islamists have been using Namaz as an excuse for taking up social spaces. Recently, people of Haryana have been in news for openly coming out in defiance against Land-Jihad through Namaz. Various such resistances have taken place in Uttarakhand as well.
Read more: Don’t come for Namaz after 11th December. Gurgaon Hindus issue ultimatum to Namazi frequenters
Recent incidents indicate that people are no longer willing to tolerate hypocrisy in the name of secularism. The idea of space for someone at the behest of others should cease to exist in a democratic nation like ours.