Editor,
Far from condemning the barbaric assault on foreign students without any ifs and buts, or expressing minimum apology for failing to protect the human rights and dignity of the innocent students of international vintage, one of the top mandarins of the Gujarat University has shamelessly, atrociously, and scandalously suggested that there is a need for overseas students to be “sensitive to the host country’s culture.”
So offering namaz during Ramazan or in 365 days of the year do not form part of India’s culture? Is India a nation or a colony of the Hindus? Is multi-religious India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ of sorts where only Ram, Hanuman and all norms of Hinduism or Hindutva will dominate its cultural sphere with minimum touch of anything Islamic being strict a no-no.
And this is the very reason why offering namaz during Ramazan (at designated spot in hostel premises) by the international students hailing from Islamic countries are definitely sin enough? What a crude communal tactics of defending the indefensible and a mockery of India’s constitutional ethos which has placed all Indians, irrespective of religious background, an absolute equal pedestal. It is simply disgraceful enough to notice how such insensitive communal persons are being allowed to dominate the sector, as noble as education also.
And the fact remains that, even those who are not part of the saffron ecosystem also do not care to protest against the atrocities committed against Muslims in the name of gomata, love jihad, or revolving around aazaan hijab or beef. If this collective indifference is nothing but a tacit endorsement of such a divisive agenda, then what’s it?
No wonder why great humanitarian souls like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rabindranath Tagore have rightly stated, “If you are neutral in situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” and “Onnay je kore ar onnay je shohe, tobo ghrina taare jaeno trinosomo dohe” (He who commits wrong or condones the same, may your contempt singe like a reed in flame), respectively.
Kajal Chatterjee,
Kolkata