Hindu student offering Namaz (left) and students singing Islamic prayer 'Lab pe aai hai dua..' with their hands in posture like offering Namaz at the school (X)
Islamic festival Eid-ul-Milad was observed last week and since then reports are coming up from schools and institutions where Hindu students were made to sing Islamic songs, recite prayers and even offer Namaz from across Bharat. Hindu activists and parents have raised objections to such practices and claim that minors are being groomed to follow a certain religion. In a recent case, Hindu students studying at a private school in Ahemadabad were made to recite the Islamic prayer ‘Lap pe aai hai dua..’ in a pose like offering Namaz. This led to tensions as Hindu activists protested and a video of them allegedly beating a teacher went viral.
The government ordered a probe after Hindu students were allegedly asked to perform namaz as part of an awareness program at a private school here.
The state government ordered an inquiry into the program organised at Kalorex Future School, located in the Ghatlodia area of the city, on September 29.
Video of the event can be seen here:
The school clarified that the purpose of the program was to educate students about various religious practices, and no student was compelled to partake in the Islamic prayer. The school also issued an apology.
A video of the event, which was subsequently removed from the school’s Facebook page, depicted a primary section student performing namaz. Subsequently, four other students joined in reciting ‘Lab pe aati hai dua,’ an Islamic prayer.
Activists from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Bajrang Dal, and other right-wing organisations staged a protest on the school premises.
Minister of State for Primary, Secondary, and Adult Education Praful Pansheriya remarked, “It seems that some people want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the state by organizing such programs in schools. Students who took part in that program may not even be aware of what exactly they were doing. This is not at all acceptable.” He assured that an investigation would be conducted to discern the motive behind organizing such a program, and appropriate action would be taken against any wrongdoers.
Gujarat ABVP’s media coordinator, Meet Bhavsar, stated, “We came across a video which showed that Hindu students of this school were forced to perform namaz during an activity. Following our protest, the school management has tendered an apology and also given an assurance that such activities will not be conducted in the future because only Hindu students have taken admission here.”
In viral videos, a teacher seen playing a musical instrument during the event was subjected to physical assault by activists and irate parents at the protest on Tuesday. As of now, no police case has been registered in this regard.
In a written statement, the school management expressed their intention to exercise greater care in similar situations in the future.
School principal Nirali Dagli explained that it was a longstanding tradition of the school to familiarize students with various religions and their practices prior to festivals. She further clarified, “In view of Eid, we had organized this activity for the students of standard II to give them information about the festival. We carry out such activities ahead of festivals of all religions, including Samvatsari and Ganesh Chaturthi. No student was forced to perform namaz. It was just a two-minute activity, and the students who participated had taken consent from their parents.”
What said the social media activists and influencers?
So-called fact-checker Mohammad Zubair shared the video of the event and wrote, “After Kalorex future school’s FB page shared a video of a school student offering namaz & four others later joined him in singing “lab pe aati hai dua”. ‘Activists’ of the ABVP & other RW organisations beat up one of the teachers seen during the program.”
Sharing pictures of other events organised in the school Zubair wrote, “Other than Eid celebration, Here are a few other Facebook posts by the school Kalorex Future School, Ghatlodia celebrating Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam. ABVP didn’t have any problem with other celebrations but Eid.”
Notably, social media influencer and speaker Kajal Hindusthani shared the video and asked what is the need to tell Hindu students studying in an all-Hindu school about Islam or Eid.
She wrote, “Let me tell you that only one Muslim child studies in “Kerolex Future School”, which is 100 percent Hindu, and that too is admitted through RTE quota. After all, what was the compulsion of the school staff that they were giving religious education to all the Hindu children of the school just for the sake of one Muslim child??? A true game of conversion is being played, all the Hindu children of the school are being brainwashed through one child.”
Similar incident reports in other states
A similar incident was reported from Madhya Pradesh’s Guna, on the occasion of Eid Milad-un-Nabi (September 27). At a private school, Hindu students were seen wearing Hijab, singing Islamic songs and preaching lessons and sayings in Islam. The video of the said performances went viral in the town and then the local Hindu activists assembled at the school.
As per the sources, the students at Prince Global Private School, located in the Cantt area of the town organised a cultural event celebrating Eid. The event was organised a day before Eid (September 27).
Videos went viral from the event showing, that Hindu students are in different Muslim attires such as little girls wearing hijabs, others wearing green dupattas and some singing Islamic songs. After the video of the incident went viral, the local Hindu activists called for a widespread protest demanding action against the school administration.
Following the massive outrage, the school administration apologised to the activists and also suspended the principal and the teacher who managed the cultural event with immediate effect.
As per the reports, a cultural program was organised in this school on Wednesday (September 27), a day before Eid Milad-un-nabi. In this, students gave cultural presentations. A video of a presentation from this cultural program surfaced on Thursday (September 28). In this video, some female students are seen wearing hijabs. Every student was also wearing a hijab. During the presentation, the female students were also seen in poses like offering Namaz.
There was an uproar as soon as the video of this cultural program surfaced. Hindu organisations lodged objections. On September 29, a large number of people from Hindu organisations reached the school. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) workers also reached the spot. The families of the children also reached the school, where they raised slogans. The activists said that a particular religion is being propagated in the temple of education (school). However, the directors of this school come from the Hindu religion. Despite this, such a program took place there.
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