Kolkata madarsa headmaster asks students to sing national anthem, banned

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, January 6, 2016: Kazi Masum Akhtar, the headmaster of Talpukur Aara High Madarsa in Kolkata, was assaulted by maulanas and their followers, for teaching students the National Anthem for the Republic Day.

 

The Muslim clerics who attacked Akhtar are said to be ISIS sympathisers. Despite appealing to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the chairman of state minorities’ commission six times, Akhtar did not find any assurance.

 "I haven’t been able to attend school ever since I was attacked. Request Govt to initiate rehab there" ,said Akhtar.

The maulvis issued a fatwa against Akhtar, calling the National Anthem a sacrilege and have also termed it as a Hindutva song.

In March, he was beaten up with iron rods which resulted in a severe head injury that left him hospitalised for months.

Since then Akhtar has not been able to set foot in the area despite being hired through a state government interview. The fatwa against him bans him from entering the school unless he wears the traditional Muslim attire of kurta, short pyjamas and grows a beard, the length of which would be decided by the madarsa’s maulanas.

Akhtar was also asked to send them photos each week, to examine the progress of his beard’s growth. They claimed that it was anti-Islamic to sing the "Hindu" national anthem and hoisting the Tri-colour in an Islamic teaching institution.

The Kolkata Police Commissioner has written to the chairman of the Minorities Commission, stating that he was not in a position to provide security to Akhtar hinting communal tensions.

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday