Protests after Meerut school ‘asks students to get Yogi haircut’, officials deny
The management of Rishabh Academy defended its directive, terming the protests as a “conspiracy” by a handful of parents from the minority community to destabilise the school.
A number of parents are up in arms against an alleged directive issued by a Meerut school that all students must get haircuts resembling that of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to enter its premises.
However, officials of the school – Rishabh Academy – denied the charge. They claimed that the parents of some students have hatched a conspiracy against the institution in an attempt to undermine its disciplinary policies.
School manager Ranjeet Jain said the administration will not succumb to pressure from a handful of parents. “We will continue our efforts to maintain discipline in our institution,” he added.
Sources said that while the agitating parents – most of whom hailed from the minority community – did not mind the school’s “short-hair policy”, they had a problem with comparing it to Adityanath’s haircut. They accused the school management of propagating communalism in the guise of disciplinary policy.
The school management later allowed the students to enter, after policemen and mediapersons intervened.
Ranjeet said the 25-year-old school run by the Jain community had banned students from growing their hair and bringing non-vegetarian food for lunch. “However, a few students from the minority community continued to do so in violation of our directives,” he added.
Terming the protests as a “conspiracy” by a handful of parents to destabilise the school, he asked, “So what’s wrong if someone gives Yogiji’s example for keeping short hair? How does that amount to spreading the BJP’s ideology?”