In Rajasthan’s Kota, teachers get the stick as Education Minister Madan Dilawar goes on a suspension spree

Students protest for reinstatement of Muslim teachers in Rajasthan, sparking communal tensions and suspensions of other teachers.

On February 26, at 10 a.m. sharp, the bell at Khajuri Odpur government school in Rajasthan’s Kota district rang through the air, beckoning the students to take their seats. However, a group of students from Classes 6 to 11, instead of going to their classes, started a 17-km march towards the office of the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM).

Some of the students were carrying handmade placards with messages like Samaan hai samaan hai, jaati dharm samaan hai [all castes and religions are equal], Laana hai lana hai, teeno ko waapis lana hai [We have to bring back all the teachers]. The group, comprising some 25 students, took several breaks during their three-hour-long march while holding high their placards.

At his office, SDM Krishna Kumar Rajawat was waiting for the students. It was the second time since February 21 that the students were protesting, demanding the reinstatement of three Muslim teachers — Mirza Mujahid, 42, Firoz Khan, 52, and Shabana, 28.

On February 21, the three teachers were suspended and attached to the Education Department’s office in Bikaner on the orders of Rajasthan’s School Education Minister Madan Dilawar after an umbrella organisation of various right-wing groups — Sarva Hindu Samaj — and people from the Hindu community submitted a written complaint to the department accusing the teachers of religious conversion and propagating ‘Love Jihad’, a term coined by right-wing outfits for interfaith couples, at the school.

When the students finally arrived at his office, the SDM met them, accepted their memorandum, and asked his driver to drop them back to school.

“They are young children. They don’t understand the harsh realities of the world,” Mr. Rajawat said.

A police team was stationed outside the Khajuri village, situated around 70 km from the district headquarters in Kota, as the suspension of the Muslim teachers sparked tension in the area. The village, which has around 350 houses, most of them semi-pucca, is dominated by people from the other backward classes [OBCs].