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Ghaziabad: Police deployed outside college after video of professor asking student to not raise religious slogans at fest goes viral

A second video the professor explaining that students should maintain discipline and not indulge in sloganeering; third video shows another professor apologising and re-iterating her Sanatani Hindu faith

A video of a female professor asking a student to exit from the stage after raising a slogan of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ has gone viral and been doing rounds on social media. As per media reports, the said incident took place in ABES Engineering College in Ghaziabad on October 20. The reports provide that the female professor had allegedly asked a student to leave the stage after he chanted the “Jai Shri Ram” slogan ahead of his performance at a cultural fest.

The said video shows that the student on stage chanted the slogan of “Jai Shri Ram” in response to some students in the audience who had shouted the same slogan. After he raises the said slogan, the entire auditorium can then be heard joining in and chanting the slogan in chorus. Pursuant to this, the woman professor can be heard asking the student to leave the stage. An argument ensues where the professor can be heard reasoning with the student that such religious slogans should not be made since it was a cultural event at the college.

The video also shows another professor, identified as Dr. Mamata Gautam, coming to the support of the other professor and asking the student to leave. This viral video then caused an uproar. People on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) took this to be an attack on Hindus and termed the teacher to be a “Hinduphobic”.

The video can be viewed here:

A second video was also uploaded on ‘X’ showed that professor explaining the audience students to not engage in sloganeering at a cultural fest as everyone was there to have a good time.

“We all are here for some cultural event and for some good time, so why there is slogans of Jai Shree Ram, there is no logic to it,” she said, adding, “These programmes can only be successful when you are disciplined. You are sitting at such a premier college and your behaviour should also be such.”

The video can be viewed here:

The attacks on the professors involved were on such a massive scale that Mamata Gautam uploaded a video explaining and clarifying the stance taken by then. In the said video, she can be heard saying that “the ‘Jai Shree Ram’ incident that took place in the college was not as it is being made out to be. Me, my colleagues and the college does not have any issues with the said slogan. The student was arguing too much with my colleague and as the coordinator of Discipline and Culture Committee, we just told the student that he had raised the slogan. There is not much to it.”

Referring to the attacking, Gautam can be heard saying “The religiously motivated comments that are being made against me are bothering me a lot. I am a Sanatani Brahmin. I was born into a Brahmin family. As you are aware that the festival of Navratri is going on. Me and my family are keeping the fast for 9 days. We do not have and will never have any problem with the slogan of ‘Jai Shree Ram’. These remarks being made against me are hurting me a lot and affecting me mentally. If people continue to make such remarks, I will be forced to go to the court.”

She ended the video by one against clarifying her religion. She stated: “There is no discrimination. I am a full sanatani.” She ended the video with a ‘Jai Shree Ram’. Notably, in the background of the video, a home temple can be seen.

The video can be viewed here:

As per the report of English Jagran, following the incident and the video going viral on social media, police had been deployed outside the college to prevent any untoward incident. The director of the college, Dr Sanjay Kumar Singh, had issued a statement provided that an inquiry committee has been formed to probe the matter and that no action will be taken against the students. Meanwhile, right-wing outfit Hindu Raksha Dal President Pinki Chaudhary had announced that he would be visiting the college on Saturday.

A pattern of targeting teachers and professors:

In the recent times, a pattern seemed to have emerged where the statements made by teachers and professors are twisted to give a communal colour, similar to what happened in the aforementioned incident. In the said incident, trollers on ‘X’ are conveniently not sharing the video of the professor giving the rational explanation of her actions and are rather painting her as “hinduphobic”. the incident is used by the extremist Hindutva group to further their narratives of ‘Hindus being in danger’ and then pressurizing the management of the involved college/schools to take action against the involved faculty. This creates an environment of fear amongst the teachers where they have to abide by the ideologies of the majoritarian groups and might have to face consequences if they do not do so. The same pattern had been observed in as many as nine schools in Kolhapur Sangli and neighbouring districts of Maharashtra between the months of June and August, 2023. A deep analysis of the report can be read here.

 

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Mob shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram, forcibly enters heritage madrasa on Dussehra, performs puja: Karnataka 

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