BHU students call off protests after Muslim Sanskrit teacher joins another dept

The agitating students had claimed that the protest was not against the appointment of a Muslim professor, but that of a non-Hindu in a subject closely connected with the religion.

A group of students at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Tuesday called off their protest against the appointment of a Muslim teacher after he joined the department of Sanskrit in the faculty of arts rather than Sanskrit Vidya Dham Vigyan (SVDV).

Sanskrit faculty students of BHU stage a dharna inside the campus, in Varanasi on Monday. (ANI file photo)

The students of the faculty of SVDV were protesting against the appointment of Firoz Khan in their faculty, demanding that he be transferred out.

The agitating students had claimed that the protest was not against the appointment of a Muslim professor, but that of a non-Hindu in a subject closely connected with the religion.

Khan’s appointment in the department had triggered protests by the varsity students last month.

Amid the protests, Khan had appeared for interviews for the post of assistant professor at the department of Sanskrit and Samhita of the faculty of Ayurveda and the department of Sanskrit at the faculty of arts at BHU.

The interview at the faculty of Ayurveda was held on November 29 and the one at the faculty of arts on December 4.