In a shocking incident, an unregistered private school in Allahabad has banned the singing of National Anthem on Independence Day citing an utterly foolish reason that it is anti-Islam. Eight teachers and the principal of the school have resigned following the incident. What’s even more worrisome is the fact that the children who are studying there have no concept of nationalism as the ban was imposed 12 years ago.
The manager of the school, Zia-ul-Haq said that there is a line in the National Anthem, “Bharat Bhagya Vidhata” which hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community as it was against Islam. He says that according to Islam, if they worship anybody else other than Allah, then they would not be Muslims.
If this is the stand of the owner of the school, then what is being taught to the children there? Unfortunately, he has been running two schools for a very long time, and the administration never had a clue until this incident came recently.
Apart from National Anthem, the manager has also banned Vande Mataram and Saraswati Vandana.
The teachers and the principal had made some plans for I-Day celebrations, and when they presented their ideas to the manager, he said that the National Anthem had not been sung in the school, and that won’t change now. If you have any objections, you can choose to leave. In a show of solidarity to their nation, eight teachers and principal resigned immediately. Unfortunately, not many had the same courage.
Zia-ul-Haq said that he wanted to protect the Muslim kids from the National Anthem, and that is why he didn’t allow it.
It must be remembered that according to the Indian law, anyone who is interfering with the National Anthem can be put behind bars for 3 years, and can also be fined. But, 12 years is too long a period for this oddity to have gone unnoticed.
The authorities seem to have finally woken up from their slumber and have sent notices to the school.
