India is a country with its majority population being Hindus; however, every now and then there are cases of oppression against them. In two recent incidents reported in Rajasthan, a similar mindset is being exposed. In one of the schools in the Alwar district, a Hindu student was thrashed for putting Tilak in school. In the other incident from Jodhpur, families protested after staff at a Christian school tore the poster of Hanumaji in the school.
The Alwar Tilak incident
On July 25, a Hindu student was beaten up by Muslim classmates for putting Tilak on his forehead in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. The incident occurred in a government-run school.
As per the reports, the Hindu student reached school wearing Tilak and he was asked to remove it by fellow Muslim students. When he did not adhere to their demands the latter thrashed him and forcefully removed his Tilak.
The matter turned so big that the victim’s family lodged an FIR against the perpetrator at the Ramgarh police station. The accused after the FIR has been booked under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 295A (hurting religious sentiments).
Notably, the students not only thrashed the Hindu student but his family members as well. One of the victim’s relatives sustained a fracture.
Following the incident, Muslim students protested against Hindus wearing Tilak at school. However, from the next day on, more and more Hindu students started wearing tilaks in school.
The locals also called a Panchayat to resolve the matter but it could not reach to any solution. The police is investigating the matter as of now.
According to local BJP leaders, Rajasthan police registered an FIR only after they put political pressure. Currently, the police force is deployed to maintain peace in the area.
The Jodhpur incident
In another such incident, a poster of Hanumaji was torn by the school authorities at a Missionary school. The incident took place on July 27 at the Our Lady of Pillar Convent School, Gangana Road, Pal village in Jodhpur.
Following the incident, Hindus in huge numbers assembled outside the school and protested against the school administration. Amid much sloganeering, it turned into a big protest.
As per the protestors, the Hindu students, mostly from the Jat community, put up a poster of Hanuman Ji in the class. However, the teachers were against the move, and they tore it off, saying no display of any other religion could be allowed on the school campus.
It is noteworthy that these Missionary schools have churches in them, students are asked to attend prayers where recitations are made from the Bible, and classrooms carry posters of Jesus.
A video from the protest site can be seen here;
This video from this morning in Jodhpur shows parents and activists protesting outside a Christian school after its staff tore off posters bearing Hanuman Ji’s pictures in front of students yesterday. A protester told me some students had pasted posters of Hanuman Ji in… pic.twitter.com/Qzly7jKm9c
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 28, 2023
A similar incident was reported in Madhya Pradesh
A video is in circulation from Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district, where students were scolded by the principal for chanting the Gayatri Mantra during the prayers. The school is a government CM Rise school. Following the video, the Department of Education has initiated a probe into the matter.
The incident took place at the school situated in Biaora town of the district on July 26 morning.
The principal of the school, Dushyant Rana scolded the students after teacher Mazida reached out to him and said something.
Sharing a video of the incident, a verified Twitter user wrote, “CM Rise School, MP: Teacher, Mazida Ma’am got offended when students began chanting Gayatri Mantra. She rushed to the principal and whispered something in his ears. The principal immediately stopped the Gayatri Mantra while Mazida Ma’am scolded the person recording this video.”
CM Rise School, MP: Teacher, Mazida Ma'am got offended when students began chanting Gayatri Mantra. She rushed to the principal and whispered something in his ears.
The principal immediately stopped the Gayatri Mantra while Mazida Ma'am scolded the person recording this video. pic.twitter.com/A4KLDOMhJw
— Treeni (@treeni) July 27, 2023
As per an ANI report the principal said, “Since it is a government school, any kind of religious activity is banned here. In this context, we had a meeting on Tuesday in which it was decided that only the national anthem, national song and an inspirational song would be sung during the morning school assembly. But the children were instigated by our three teachers Harish Saxena, Bajrang Jangde and Nutan Dubey, and students were purposefully made to chant prayers that we had decided to stop earlier”.
“Gayatri Mantra, Mahamrityunjaya Jaap and also there were three-four verses which are related to Hinduism. I said that no particular religion can be promoted in government schools in such a way. But the teachers did not listen to me and instigated the children to do all those prayers. They also started the prayer before time so that I could not get to know about it,” he added.
