RSS school’s sports event shows kids enact demolition of Babri Masjid

Videos have surfaced from Sri Rama Vidyakendra High School in Karnataka with hundreds of children in white shirts and white pants and some others in white shirts and saffron dhotis running towards a poster of the BabriMasid reenacting the demolition, bringing down the Babri Masjid with anything they can get their hands on.

As the narrator says, ““They start demolishing the structure with anything they can get their hands on. With enthusiasm, Hanuman bhaktas with Hanuman’s anger, they bring down Babri structure. Bolo Shri Ramachandraki, Jai!” the monument has been brought down by the Class 11 and 12 students who are seen cheering in excitement. The play ended with the students showing a Ram temple being built in place of the mosque. They also assembled in formations to depict the Om symbol and the Lotus.

The school, located in Dakshina Kannada district’s Kalladka is owned by Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader and the organization’s south-central committee member. The Chief Guests for the event were Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadananda Gowda; Puducherry Governor Kiran Bedia and several ministers from Karnataka including H Nagesh and Sashikala Jolle, reported The News Minute (TNM).

While DV SadanandaGowda denied being present when the play was going on; he said he came in much later, KiranBediput out a tweet showing the kids working towards the formation of a Ram mandir, something she was rebuked for by many.

A report by Daiji World stated her as saying that she thanked the founders and teachers of the school for doing things that gave as sense of pride about Indian culture and that the kids should also get a chance to display the same at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi.

When contacted by TNM to ask as to why the school would stage a play that could fray communal harmony, especially given the RSS’ involvement in the land dispute case, Kalladka Prabhakar said, ““It is not a mosque. It is just a building. It is a historical event that we are depicting. We have depicted Jallianwala Bagh as well. Did anyone highlight that? There are hundreds of instances like this and we have to show the injustices that have happened in our country.”

He added, “Who are Babur’s children? We are not against Mslims. We are against terrorists. The play was done to show historical events and what is the problem with it? Our temple was destroyed and then the structure was built. We have said Babristructure. It was not a masjid” maintaining that the school did not take any wrong decision in choosing this subject for the play.

Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat also mentioned that he was against the Supreme Court statement that the demolition was unlawful. He said, “Even though the Supreme Court has said that what happened in Babri was wrong, we have questioned that part of the judgement itself. We cannot accept everything that is said in the judgement. I don’t agree with it.”

Satish Bhat Shivagiri, the President of the school claimed that there was nothing communal about the play and they were simply depicting ‘developments’.

Bhat, popularly known as the ‘Controller in Chief’ of the RSS in coastal Karnataka, has been booked for hate speech multiple times, is seen as the key player in spreading communal tensions in the region. He had also led rallies and protests in the area after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. In 2017, he was said to have instigated the killing of an activist of the pro-Muslim Social Democratic Party of India, but BS Yeddyurappa, whom Bhat is close to had said that if Bhat was to be arrested for the same, the whole of Karnataka would burn up in flames.

The play that was performed in his school is just another direct attempt to flay communal tensions in the region especially when the matter has been settled by the apex court and the members of the Muslim community have accepted the decision with grace. The hypocrisy of the RSS was also noticed when in spite of saying that they would not celebrate the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, they held an event, however low-key and also organized other events in UP honouring karsevaks for their ‘sacrifice’.  Not just this, it is an example of the abhorrent education that is being provided to the students. They are being poisoned to grow up with hate, being taught to single out communities, further ingraining a feeling of communal disharmony at a time when the secular fabric of India is already under threat.

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