Gujarat News

Al Jazeera Peddles Half-Truths About “Hindu Activists Thrashing Teacher For Depicting Muslim Prayers At Hindu-Majority School”

October 7, 2023
The Commune

Al Jazeera which is a news organization based in Qatar that has a global presence and is known for its coverage of international and Middle Eastern news has twisted facts again. As per Al Jazeera, Muslims in a Hindu-majority school in Gujarat were beaten by “Hindu activists for arranging a student performance on religious tolerance that depicted Muslim prayers at a Hindu-majority school”.

The video alleges that the teacher was attacked in the school he works in for organizing a show on “religious tolerance” that depicted “Muslim prayers” in which students who were mostly Hindu asked to sing and act out Muslim prayers.

Al Jazeera said that the school principal had called it at an act to welcome a Muslim student who was recently admitted to the school.

“The school issued an apology and deleted the video from its page”, Al Jazeera said. 

However, what they conveniently omitted to state was that four Hindu students were forced to perform Namaz without consent from their parents, according to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists. 

The activists claimed that the teacher had coerced Hindu students into participating in a Namaz prayer during an event on September 29.

The private school in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, later issued an apology following the incident. The principal of Kalorex Future School in Ghatlodia, Niraliben Dagli, confirmed that the school had indeed issued an apology letter in response to the incident. This letter was sent to the groups responsible for organizing the protest against the school and its teacher.

In a video of the protest, a group of individuals can be seen physically assaulting the school’s music teacher, Maulik Pathak, while police personnel attempted to protect him. Eventually, Pathak was safely escorted away by his colleagues and the police.

Umang Mojidra, the secretary of ABVP’s Ahmedabad city unit, explained that on September 29, the school hosted an event that was live-streamed on their Facebook page, as is common for their events. During this event, five Hindu students from the second grade, approximately 7 years old, were shown participating in Namaz and extending Eid greetings to their peers. It is important to note that both the teacher and the students involved were Hindus. According to Mojidra, the teacher and the school allegedly compelled the students to take part in the Namaz, which prompted their protest.

Mojidra clarified that their intention was not to harm the teacher, but some of the protestors may have unintentionally roughed him up. The protesters demanded the resignation of the school principal and were taken to the police station by the authorities, only to be released shortly afterward.

Principal Niraliben Dagli explained that one of the students, who happened to be Muslim, initiated the Namaz and was joined by four Hindu students, all with their parents’ consent. She emphasized that no one had raised any objections at the time. Pathak, the music teacher, may have been targeted because he was seen playing the piano in the background of the video. The Namaz event lasted for a brief one and a half minutes.

Dagli stressed that while the event was a mock demonstration, and no one was forced to participate, the school did not want to hurt anyone’s sentiments. The school’s intention behind holding the event on September 29 was solely to educate students about various festivals.

In their apology letter to the protesters, the school acknowledged that a public demonstration of Namaz had taken place during the September 29 function. The letter stated that Hindu organizations and parents had raised concerns, leading to discussions with the school authorities involving groups such as the International Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Through these discussions, the school authorities recognized the seriousness of the situation and admitted their mistake.

Meanwhile, left-liberal fact-checker Mohammad Zubair jumped into the fray and said, “FAKE NEWS! Stop Justifying Mob violence! Four Hindu students were NOT forced to perform Namaz. In fact, the Hindu students didn’t perform Namaz. It was the Muslim student who enacted that. The other 4 Hindu students later joined him in singing “Lab pe aati hai dua”.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times)

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