Sir, just kneel and repent How we treat teachers who air their views in BJP era

Piyush Srivastava and K.M. Rakesh, TT, 4 March 2019: A primary schoolteacher has been suspended in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh for lauding Imran Khan while an engineering college lecturer in Karnataka was forced by the ABVP to kneel and apologise for an anti-war post critical of the BJP.

Amrendra Kumar Azad, social science teacher at Isauli Primary School in Sultanpur district, had in a WhatsApp message to friends described Pakistan’s Prime Minister as a “shanti ka masiha (messiah of peace)” for releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

Sandeep Wathar, who teaches at Dr P.G. Halakatti Engineering College in Bijapur, 520km from Bangalore, had posted a Facebook comment saying: “You… bhakts. You will (be) the reason for (the) destruction of millions of lives if this tension escalates. BJP… absolutely zero shame.”

Members of the RSS-affiliated ABVP deemed the comment “anti-India”, and college sources said the authorities buckled under pressure and asked Wathar to apologise to the protesting mob. A video clip that has gone viral shows the mob forcing Wathar to kneel.

An education department official in Lucknow said Azad had flouted no rules but his suspension had come under “tremendous pressure from BJP leaders on Saturday, a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to neighbouring Amethi”.

K.K. Singh, basic education officer of Sultanpur, said two block-level officials would probe whether Azad’s act amounted to a “breach of service rules” and hand in their report within 15 days.

But the Lucknow official said: “Praising the Prime Minister of a foreign country is not a crime when we are not officially at war with that country. But any delay in acting against Azad could have led to one of us being suspended.”

Another official said: “We hope that government employees would avoid saying such things in future, keeping in mind the ground situation and the mood among a section of society.”

College sources in Bijapur said a mob of ABVP members from the institution and outside had accosted Wathar inside the campus on Saturday afternoon and forced him to accompany its leaders to the principal’s office.

They said the lecturer was not keen on stepping out of the office but the authorities told him he must apologise in front of the slogan-chanting mob gathered outside the main college building.

In the video, the lecturer is seen kneeling and saying with folded hands: “I won’t repeat it. Forgive me for my Facebook post.”

A youth, apparently an ABVP leader, then tells the mob: “Sir has said he will not say anything against the country. But we want the college to issue a suspension order against him by Tuesday since tomorrow and the day after (Monday) are holidays.”

Local ABVP leaders also urged the police to take suo motu action against the lecturer but the cops refused to act without a formal complaint. No complaint against Wathar had been lodged till Sunday night, officers said.

Karnataka home minister M.B. Patil, who heads the Bijapur Lingayat Development Education Society that runs the college, told reporters there was “absolutely nothing wrong” with Wathar’s post. “All he said was that war will lead to destruction.”

He said he had ordered a police probe into the entire episode, including the lecturer’s public humiliation.

Bijapur police superintendent Prakash Nikam said his deputy would carry out the investigation.

Azad, the Sultanpur teacher, couldn’t be contacted. A friend claimed that Azad’s now-deleted comment had been a sarcastic one — “a jibe at Imran and not an appreciation” — but he went on to praise the Pakistani leader in the same breath.

“Pakistan could well have denied that it had our pilot, which it had done many times earlier. Let us open our hearts and minds and accept the truth,” he said.

He added: “Azad has removed the message to protect his job. He has also tendered an apology to the members of the WhatsApp group and clarified that he loves India.”