Yogi haircut for kids - UP school tells boys to follow CM's style

Piyush Srivastava, TT, Lucknow, April 28: A 25-year-old private co-educational school in western Uttar Pradesh has suddenly realised that its boys and girls should sit in different rooms as a safeguard against "love jihad".

Ranjit Jain, manager of Rishabh Academy in Meerut city, has issued two other diktats since last week. One, all the boys must sport "Yogi Adityanath-style" haircuts and two, whoever brings non-vegetarian food in their lunch boxes would be expelled from the 10+2 school.

"The third order was issued last week and the remaining two this week on Monday and Tuesday. The orders were put up on the notice board," a parent told local reporters today, requesting anonymity.

"We protested at the school office on Wednesday and at the gates yesterday. I don't know whether the manager is trying to please the chief minister with his strange diktats."

Adityanath, the mahant of the Gorakhnath Math, mostly keeps his head fully tonsured. He and some other Sangh parivar leaders have over the past five years been alleging a Muslim campaign of "love jihad" to trap Hindu girls into forced conversion and marriage through feigned love or rape.

Within days of Adityanath becoming chief minister on March 19, his officials had shut all buffalo abattoirs in the state and some legal goat slaughterhouses too.

Jain, the school manager, was seen on TV shouting at reporters for questioning his diktats. "What else will they (boys and girls) do if allowed to sit together? They will do love jihad," he was heard saying.

"It's my school; I won't allow the students to eat non-vegetarian food on the compound."

Jain said he had used the expression "Yogi-style" haircuts only because the students had failed to understand his initial order about getting "military haircuts".

A parent said the notice did prescribe "Yogi-style" haircuts but the expression was later crossed out.

Jain later told The Telegraph over the phone that some parents from "a particular community" were creating a "drama" because he had refused their demand to promote some failed students and admit some others.

He said the school was run by the Jain Samaj Trust, and he was merely enforcing Jain norms. "This isn't the first time I'm asking the students to follow these rules," he said. "I'm in a meeting of the Jain community to find out ways to handle those opposing our orders."

Several parents said such "weird orders" had never been issued in the past.

A state education department official, who didn't want to be quoted, said: "If the students or parents lodge a formal complaint, we can conduct an inquiry and ask the school to withdraw the orders."