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Savarkar row: BJP says IUML misusing power
Thiruvananthapuram: A day after a school teacher was suspended over a controversial question on right-wing ideologue VD Savarkar in a quiz competition, the BJP on Monday alleged that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), whose minister is in charge of the education department, is “misusing power to punish teachers who teach historical facts
Thiruvananthapuram: A day after a school teacher was suspended over a controversial question on right-wing ideologue VD Savarkar in a quiz competition, the BJP on Monday alleged that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), whose minister is in charge of the education department, is “misusing power to punish teachers who teach historical facts.”
Guru Prasad, a teacher at a government upper primary school in Kerala’s Kasaragod district, faced departmental action over a question he prepared on Savarkar in a ‘freedom quiz’ for school students at the sub-district level. The question was ‘who is the freedom fighter who received the most punishment at the hands of the British?’. The answer provided in the answer key was Veer Savarkar. The inquiry initiated against the teacher found that framing a question in a way that could spread a misleading impression was ‘very serious.’
BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar however claimed that punishing a teacher for preparing a quiz with ‘historical facts about Veer Savarkar’ was highly objectionable and demanded that his suspension be lifted.
“It reveals a conspiracy to erase and rewrite the country’s true history. The IUML is misusing power to punish teachers who teach historical facts. We have been saying all along that the government led by VD Satheesan is held captive by the IUML,” he alleged in a post on Facebook.
The BJP leader alleged that the government was hounding a teacher in a bid to placate extremist forces like Jamaat-e-Islami and the SDPI and practice appeasement politics.
The BJP also carried out protests against the UDF government in Kasaragod.
At the same time, state education minister N Shamsudheen said that action against the teacher was taken on the basis of a report pointing to his guilt by the director general of education.
“The inquiry will continue. If there are others who have had a role in this incident and who have attempted to impose their ideology and create issues in the education system, they will also face similar departmental inquiry,” the minister said.
