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‘Just politics’: BC Nagesh on furore over Manipal University professor’s remark
A professor at the Manipal Institute of Technology reportedly asked a student his name and, upon hearing his name, said: “Oh, you are like Kasab!”
Bengaluru: A day after a college teacher in Karnataka was suspended after he compared a Muslim student with a terrorist, Karnataka education minister BC Nagesh said the teacher “shouldn’t have said that... but it is just politics”.
“Almost everyone everyday uses words like ‘Ravan’ or ‘Shakuni’... even in Assembly many times, we’ve spoken like this. It doesn’t become an issue. When you speak about Kasab it becomes an issue,” the minister said. “The teacher shouldn’t have said that... but it is just politics and confirming the vote bank,” he added.
Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist captured after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was executed in 2012.
The incident took place on November 25, when a professor at the Manipal Institute of Technology, a private institute in Udupi, reportedly asked a student his name and, upon hearing his name, said: “Oh, you are like Kasab!” His comment irked the student, who slammed the professor for making such a comparison. “You can’t joke about my religion, that too in such a derogatory manner,” the student is heard saying in the viral video.
The lecturer, however, apologised soon after and could be heard initially telling the student that “you are like my son” and that he was sorry about the “joke”.
“No, sir,” retorted the student, “It’s not funny; 26/11 was not funny. Being a Muslim in this country and facing all this every day is not funny... Will you talk to your son like that? Will you call him by the name of a terrorist?”
When the professor said “no”, the student continued, “Then how can you call me like that in front of so many people? You are a professor, you are teaching... A sorry doesn’t change how you think or how you portray yourself here.”
After the video went viral, the college suspended the teacher and ordered an inquiry.
“The lecturer has been barred from taking any further classes. A team has been formed to probe the incident,” an official from MIT said.
In an official statement posted on its Twitter account, the MIT said: “The institute has already initiated an inquiry into the incident and the concerned staff has been debarred from classes till the inquiry is over. We would like everyone to know that the institute does not condone this kind of behaviour and this isolated incident will be dealt with in accordance with the laid down policy.”
“The institute prides itself with one of the biggest diversity on campus and is committed to uphold our constitutional values of treating everyone alike, irrespective of their caste, religion, region, gender etc.,” it added.
In a WhatsApp message later circulated in one of the campus groups, the student discussed the incident and said, “I had a conversation with the lecturer and realised that he genuinely meant that apology.” He further asked students to let the incident go as a “genuine mistake but such a remark came across wrong from a teacher, a person we admire, but it can be ignored this time,” the message said.
