An online tutor remarks on ‘How Britishers united India?’ is making rounds on the internet. This is not the only time that any online teaching organisation or their tutor has sparked controversy. There have been big names to it, like Unacademy, Vision IAS and now Study IQ. In the recent Study IQ controversy, no apology letter has been issued by the organisation.
Some of the videos of a tutor identified as Divakar Bothra, who teaches at a digital education providing platform Study IQ. Some of the clips and pdfs from his class are going viral on the internet.
In these clips, the tutor can be seen saying, ‘India had no identity before the Britishers arrived, they provided an identity to India. Before them, there were no laws in the country to bind people in one thread. People followed texts like Manusmriti which only divided them. There was unity among Hindus, Muslims, Tribes and villagers but they were united in small groups only. There was ‘diversity in unity’ not ‘unity in diversity. Due to the efforts of the Britishers and the freedom fighters, India became a nation with ‘Unity in diversity’’.
https://twitter.com/MrSinha_/status/1640705905187758080?t=_aGQtOuipMw2-6I7DTqMdw&s=08
In another clip, Bothra can be seen saying, ‘Currently the Ministry of Home Affairs is trying to impose Hindi as the national language. There have been questions to it from northeastern states and in Tamil Nadu as well. The government with such decisions is trying to bring Uniformity in diversity, no unity in diversity’.
He added, ‘the government is doing it by largely creating the aspects of one nation, one language, one party and one structure. All this states that India which had unity too is emphasising uniformity and making unity its first victim. In contemporary times the rise of communal aspirations, communal feelings, religious conflicts, linguistic conflicts or conflicts on the basis of political vendetta indicates that India is emphasising Uniformity forgetting the important aspects of unity.
This is not the first time that any online education platform or their tutors have sparked controversy. There are endless examples to it. The most recent one was by teachers of Vision IAS academy.
All the Controversial tutors and their statements by other education providers
Unacademy controversy
In May 2021, a question was asked in an online assignment on IPC that sparked controversy over social media platforms by Unacademy. After the matter was fueled over Twitter and other social media platforms, creators removed the test question and sought an apology.
The question which triggered outrage on various platforms reads “In a city named X, a group of Muslim people were carrying out their rally on the occasion of Eid. They were chanting their slogans and celebrating their festivals. When they were passing through the streets of a Hindu-dominated colony, the Hindus of the area started pelting stones at them and claimed that they outraged the religious feelings of Hindus. Is the claim correct?” and had four options.
The question was brought to light when a Twitter user with the handle @PrakharBansal14, posted a screenshot highlighting the matter. As the screenshot justified that online platform creators are allegedly provoking Hindu sentiments, various people and communities came forward to condemn it.
https://twitter.com/PrakharBansal14/status/1394904458094530560?s=20
After the case triggered outrage the Unacademy not only took down the assignment question but also posted an apology over Twitter in which it blamed a third party for everything.
This is not the first incident in which Unacademy and its creators are under light for making Hindu phobic remarks.
One of its creators Varun Awasthi made a provocative statement during his class in which he asked his students to pick an AK-47 against the delay in results of SCC and Railways exams against the current government like people do in J&K.
The matter went on roast over social media platforms after which the creator removed the video. And Unacademy assured investigation from its Twitter handle.
Similar remarks were made by another creator from the Unacademy platform that allegedly called Brahmins lazy and that they have not written the Vedas and are liars too who are taking its credit till now.
In September 2021, a teacher identified as Lalit Yadav can be heard saying about indigenous tribes: “When you travel to a tribal area, they reside in their natural area, poor things. Today, they at least have some knowledge; in the 80s, where did they have the knowledge? Poor things lived with their communities in jungles.”
Byjus controversy
In December 2022, India’s federal child rights commission has accused, Byjus, of harassing parents and their children through cold-calling and threatening and forcing them to subscribe to their courses.
The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights said the company was buying phone databases from third parties and threatening to ruin the future of children if they did not enrol in their courses.
“We came to know about Byju’s buying phone numbers of children and their parents, rigorously following them and threatening them that their future will be ruined,” NCPCR chairman Priyank Kanoongo told media.
“We categorically state that we have never bought any database and expect that the media will refrain from making such a baseless and unsubstantiated allegation,” the company said in a statement.
https://twitter.com/BYJUS/status/1605533270543777794?s=20
After all of this tutor at Study IQ claimed that ‘Britishers United India’ and that the government of India is busy uniforming people not uniting them.
The Vision IAS
In the video, the female tutor, identified as Smriti Shah, asked the students about the purpose of the ‘Bhakti movement’. When the students said it was “equality”, she said, “Islam arrived in India in the seventh century. It was very liberal and talked about equality. There was no caste system either. PM Modi gifted a miniature of Cheraman Juma Masjid to the Saudi King, which was the first mosque built in India. Islam had not arrived in India yet, but it had started showing its influence. It was free from any rigidity and casteism. There was a specialty in Islam that talked about complete devotion to one God (Allah). They were talking about the concept of one God.”
She further added, “As Islam said, there was only one God, and he created all, that means everyone was same. Islam talked about the universal brotherhood that attracted people. Those who belonged to the lower class started to convert to Islam to raise their status. That was the time when Hindu civilization felt threatened. As a result, the Bhakti cult was started. They wanted to tell people that Hinduism is the same religion as Islam and that there was no difference.”
https://twitter.com/ShefVaidya/status/1498166253982154755?s=20&t=kFbS4lHl8WKzerjbm76JqA
In another video she justified, belief generates emotions very peculiarly she called Hindus violent and oppressive to minority religious groups.
She said, ‘Beliefs generate emotions. Belief is a forced thing ‘aapke belief ke basis par emotions aate hain’. I believe India is a Hindu Rashtra that generates an emotion of antagonism or hostility towards other religious minorities. And then it might generate the action tendencies of being violent or attacking. So it all starts with belief.’
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1497914988685500416?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
Clips from other lectures of the same tutor also surfaced on the internet wherein one lecture on the concept of family and its evolution in India, she discussed polyandry and ‘Purchasing of wives’.
Viral Clip—3:
She said, “In the agricultural communities from Punjab and Harayana, the livelihood depends on land. If you have five sons, you have to ‘purchase a wife’. You must have that much money to ‘purchase’ a bride for each of your sons. Once you get the bride, the chances of property division are also high, since now there would be five different families. To avoid the fragmentation of land-holding, you instead purchase one bride for all your sons.”
“Polyandry solves two purposes, one – you have to purchase one woman instead of five and the second being your economic assets would be retained. Now when you question that this is illegal, the reference is then made to Draupadi, your culture,” “When Draupadi went Sati, she (the bride) will also go.” she added.
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498231075385982976?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
While talking about the land reforms made by the government of India post-independence she praised ‘Sheikh Abdullah’ for re-distributing the wealth and called him a secular leader.
However, there is no end to the clips where Vision IAS teachers mocked Hinduism. Some of them are listed below:
Viral Clip—4
She said, ‘Jammu and Kashmir were very successful concerning land reforms. At that time there was a leader in the context of Jammu and Kashmir his name was Sheikh Abdullah. He was a very socialist and secular person contrary to the belief of many, but he was a socialist and secular person. The first thing he wanted to do was the implementation of land reforms. But the irony was that most of the zamindar class were Hindus and most of the present class were Muslims. Although he was implementing a socialist measure that is redistribution of wealth and equitable distribution of lands. He was implementing those measures in a socialist capacity, but since the irony was the class distinctions were coinciding. So it was seen as a Muslim ruler was trying to protect the interest of the Muslim peasant against the interest of the Hindu zamindars.’
She added ‘ although he was a secular person he was a socialist person and he was implementing the policies which were socialist in nature but since the irony was the class distinction was coinciding with the religious distinction so the socialist measure was seen in the prism of religious differences which gave rise to the fervor’
https://twitter.com/HinduWatchDog/status/1498550719560892416?s=20&t=kFbS4lHl8WKzerjbm76JqA
She jumped into the Hijab controversy by saying India is not generating youth with scientific temperament and rational ideas.
Viral Clip—5
She said, ‘I am not saying anything with respect to the hijab controversy right now, but the scenario which was there. There was a group of boys who were chanting certain slogans against a girl, who was wearing a burqa. And the scene which was being created yesterday and that is not a very civilized scene to say. It is not about which religious community is doing what, no absolutely not. The question here is what kind of youth are you creating. This youth is going to be the future of our country, right? And what kind of youth are we creating that don’t even know the purpose. They are saying they are talking about equality, but they don’t even know in which context they are asking for equality. Have they ever read the constitution of this country? Have they ever seen it? The problem here is we as a society are not mature.’
Viral Clip—6
Asking the students she said ‘we recently discussed the Triple talaq bill, have you heard Owaisi? He said the same thing which I taught’.
She added, “Oh, by the way, Owaisi is a learned person. He is a very well qualified and educated person, a lawyer and the thought process was the same.”
She added, ‘What I am trying to say is a common rational person who has a minimum awareness will debate on the same lines. Please read and listen to these speeches.’
https://twitter.com/CA_AshutoshSoni/status/1498203554372530180?s=20&t=kFbS4lHl8WKzerjbm76JqA
Viral Clip—7
While she was explaining to students the difference between religion and rationality she mentioned how menstruating women are not allowed to enter the temple. She took a jibe on ‘Ram Mandir’ by saying ‘Electricity aaye na aaye, Ram ji bas bas jaye’.
https://twitter.com/ShefVaidya/status/1498500657275281410?s=20&t=kFbS4lHl8WKzerjbm76JqA
Viral Clip—8
In yet another bizarre statement made by Shah during another class, she claimed the joint family system in Hindus “satisfies sexual gratification”. She said, “Your sexual desires are also satisfied by a family. You need to understand. In a family, you get into a relationship if you are not a blood relative then through marriage. And marriage is the institution that serves the purpose of sexual gratification. Once your sexual needs are gratified, it results in reproduction.”
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498335319468707841?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
While the Vision IAS tutor Smriti Shah was thrashed by the netizens, videos of other teachers from the organization came out with the same propaganda.
A tutor was teaching students how people practice, profess and propagate religion and he made some unacceptable remarks against Hinduism and their preachers.
Viral Clip—9
He said, ‘You will practice faith in the form of rituals like people do ‘Mata ka Jagrata’. They keep everyone awake the whole night. It is your practice. The next thing is you will not just think, and practice but also propagate. You will call all of them to the bank of river Yamuna, and tell them that this is faith. And you will show them the art of living and then the whole of Yamuna bank will be destroyed for the next 10-20 years.’
He further added, ‘Bhadkane ki der hai log ladne Marne ko taiyar hain’ Take Sonu Nigam he was getting disturbed by the loudspeakers installed only on Masjid. He has so much money he should do soundproofing in his house. Why are you so much bothered’.
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498306669821919240?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
Another tutor from Vision IAS whose ideas surfaced on the internet can be seen praising rulers like Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan for their extraordinary valour and courage.
Viral Clip—10
The tutor said, ‘People say about Aurangzeb that he has destroyed one temple, maybe that Kashi Vishwanath one. They also say that there was a complaint by the good priests at that time that some illegitimate activities were taking place in that temple. As we all know that in Hinduism actually in every religion there is a certain kind of misuse of the religion. For instance take Baba Ram Rahim from that ‘Love Charger song’, take Asaram bapu. This means some illegitimate activities were taking place inside the temple that’s why Aurangzeb destroyed it.
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498319512072245248?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
Viral Clip—11
The same tutor added that ‘This temple (Kashi Vishwanat) was declining and Aurangzeb let it decline. He was a very ethical kind of person, he would not engage in any illegitimate activities. It is an issue of controversy’
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498319514567852037?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
Viral Clip—12
The tutor praised Akbar and Aurangzeb for being so good and generous.
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498319517059289090?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
Viral Clip—13
In this clip, he said, ‘We need not mention the religiously decisive policies of Aurangzeb. In politics everything is power, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Muslim ruler or a Hindu ruler they just want power’.
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498319519223541760?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
Viral Clip— 14
He told students that they should take pride in only two rulers from the period and they were Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan.
He said, ‘The one state which was behaving like Britishers was Mysore. The only state which you should be a fan of is Mysore. Maratha will come second, Marathas will not even come to the second position because they supported the British. It was Tipu Sultan who died in war protecting his capital in 1799, although he was a Muslim. To be truly rational, if there should be one hero from this era it should be Tipu Sultan’.
https://twitter.com/shashank_ssj/status/1498319521488445440?s=20&t=xKsZsv5e69I04RX6qPe4ww
In a deleted clip from Woakflix Smriti Shah mocked Hindu rituals by saying:
Though Hindus have accepted the new amenities like a car, they are still stuck to the old traditions like hanging lemons and chillies or breaking a coconut before using a vehicle, thinking the vehicle would remain safe from damage. “They break the coconut. Thank God they do not break it on the car! The idea is, you accepted the peripheral value by owning a car, but the core value that is tradition is still there.”
In another clip, she claimed that the joint family system in Hindus “satisfies sexual gratification”. She said, “Your sexual desires are also satisfied a family. You need to understand. In a family, you get into a relationship if you are not a blood relative then through marriage. And marriage is the institution that serves the purpose of sexual gratification. Once your sexual needs are gratified, it results in reproduction.”
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