Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen while reacting sharply to a viral video showing a school teacher in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar asking her students to slap a Muslim child and passing Islamophobic remarks, said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is responsible for what happened to the child.
“Perhaps, you (Yogi) will invite this criminal to Lucknow and reward him. No count of how many Muslim children are forced to bear such humiliation silently. It is common to call Muslim children ‘Jihadi’ or ‘Pakistani’ in schools,” Hyderabad MP wrote on X.
On Saturday, Owaisi questioned Yogi Adityanath for not taking his “bulldozer action.”
He also alleged that the father of the Muslim child has withdrawn his son from the school and given in writing that he doesn’t want to pursue the matter because he knows he won’t get justice and instead it might vitiate the “atmosphere.”
Alleging that the video from Muzaffarnagar “is a product of the last 9 years”, Owaisi said, “The message being drilled into the minds of little children is that one can beat up and humiliate a Muslim without any repercussions.”
He said: Section 75 of Juvenile Justice Act 2015 is clear. Why has @muzafarnagarpol must take action. @NCPCR_ & @India_NHRC are otherwise quick to take suo motu action but here they have done nothing. Reportedly, NCPCR is more concerned about the video getting viral rather than ensuring justice.
In a video widely circulated on social media, a teacher, identified as Tripta Tyagi, can be seen asking the students of Neha Public School in Khubbapur village in Muzaffarnagar to hit the Muslim child. Tyagi also encourages the children to hit the crying student harder while declaring that all Muslims children should be taught a lesson.
There was nothing worse a teacher could do for the country than sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, Congress former chief Rahul Gandhi said.
“Sowing the poison of discrimination in the minds of innocent children, turning a holy place like school into a market place of hatred – nothing worse a teacher can do for the country,” Gandhi said in a post on X in Hindi.
He went on to say: “This is the same kerosene spread by the BJP which has set every corner of India on fire. Children are the future of India – do not hate them, we all have to teach love together.”
Many Opposition leaders condemned the incident and expressed their dismay over the viral video.
