A government school Headmaster in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit was suspended following the complaint by the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal leaders that students were singing “Lab pe aati hai dua banke tamanna meri” in the morning prayers.
The poem “Lab pe aati hai dua” was written in 1902 by Mohd Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal who is well known for “Sare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara”.
In a recent development, on Friday, October 18, around 30 students stood in two lines at the government primary school in Pilibhit district’s Ghayaspur area and raised slogans, “Desh ki Raksha kaun karega? Hum karenge (Who will protect the country? We will)”, and “Kaise karenge? Tann se karenge, mann se karenge, dhan se karenge (We will do it with our mind, our and body and our wealth).”
The students were not in their uniforms and about 10 minutes later they stopped hailing slogans, following which they walked out of the school premises.
When they were asked where they were headed, a Class 5 student, said, “We will come back the day our headmaster is allowed to return and teach us. No teacher can replace him and what is happening to him is wrong and unfair.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, Basic Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi said he has sought a report from the Education Directorate and Ali’s suspension will be revoked soon.
“It was initially found that he was getting a different prayer recited, but later it was found that he was getting a poem by Iqbal recited which is about patriotism. The BSA and DM acted hastily. The suspension should not have been done without collecting all the facts,” Dwivedi was quoted in the media report.
“We will also issue a general notice to all schools that only those prayers should be recited in the morning assembly which is prescribed by the education department,” he added.
Headmaster suspended for making students sing Allama Iqba’s poem in Uttar Pradesh
