A first information report was filed on Thursday against the principal of a government-run school in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district after a video of students reciting a poem by noted Urdu poet Muhammad Iqbal went viral on social media, The Indian Express reported.
The poem, Lab pe aati hai dua, was written by Iqbal in 1902. He also wrote the famous patriotic song Saare jahan se achha.
The video on social media shows children singing the lines “mere Allah burai se bachaana mujhko” (O Allah, protect me from evil) during the morning prayer.
Apart from the principal Nahid Siddiqui, the school’s shiksha mitra Wazeeruddin has also been booked on charges of hurting religious sentiments based on a complaint filed by a local Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader named Sompal Singh Rathore.
The state education department has also suspended Siddiqui and ordered an inquiry against Wazeeruddin.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad functionary claimed that the prayer was being recited at the school in a bid to convert the students.
“Teachers Nahid Siddiqui and Wazeeruddin were making the students reciter prayer as per Muslim method with an intention to hurt sentiments of the Hindus,” the complaint alleged. “This is being done by the two teachers to attract students towards Islam.”
The police said they filed the case as the song is not part of the stipulated prayer schedule of government schools.
“They had not taken Basic Shiksha Adhikari’s permission for this particular one,” said basic shiksha adhikari of Bareilly, Vinay Kumar, The Times of India reported. “The BSA has also taken disciplinary action against them. The complainant in the FIR said that children of all communities study in that school and teachers cannot impose their religious belief on others.”
The basic shiksha adhikaris are government officers who are responsible for primary education at the block level.
Iqbal’s poem is, however, part of the primary school syllabus, according to The Times of India.
Meanwhile, Siddiqui said the poem was recited when she was on a medical leave. The principal blamed Wazeeruddin and said she followed the daily prayer schedule.
In 2019, a headmaster of a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district was also suspended after the students were heard reciting Lab pe aati hai dua. The action was taken following a complaint by the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers.
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