Opinion Balbir Punj writes: Unlike Kathua, there is no communal dimension to Muzaffarnagar incident

The Indian Express editorial (‘Teaching hate’, August 29) took cognisance of the Kathua boy’s travails but as a trope to highlight the unfortunate Muzaffarnagar classroom incident in which a teacher is accused of instructing students to slap a Muslim classmate as a punishment for slackness in completing his schoolwork.

This esteemed daily has termed the sordid episode as “bigotry in the classroom” and observed, “The prejudice that made the teacher in Muzaffarnagar choreograph the horrific punishment and draft seven-year-olds into its brutish design, and the normalisation of prejudice which dictates her and-so-what responses in the aftermath, speak of disquieting things.” But a stunning silence on the shocking behaviour of the two Kathua teachers! While mentioning that case, the editorial is circumspect and economical with words. It says: “The incident in Kathua, …does not cancel out the Muzaffarnagar outrage — it only adds to it.”

I agree with it to the extent that the two incidents cannot cancel each other out. Why? Because the binary is fake — there is an ocean of difference in the nuances and details of the two.

The Kathua boy was set upon by two teachers because he had the audacity to write ‘Jai Shri Ram’. However hard we try, we can’t understand what infuriated the two teachers.

Shri Ram is a god to millions and also a national hero who represents all that’s noble and sacred in Indian public life. Gandhiji had his name on his lips while breathing his last and his Samadhi at Rajghat bears the words “Hey Ram”. The handwritten copy of the Constitution — calligraphed by Prem Behari Narain Raizada — has Ram’s painting, along with the pictorial depiction of several other Indian icons who had inspired the freedom struggle.

The incident at the school in Muzaffarnagar falls into yet another category, reminiscent of Nupur Sharma’s case. No one pointed out what wrong the BJP leader had said. Agent provocateurs twisted her statement, accused her of insulting the Holy Prophet. Such was the hate generated against her that even those who dared to stand by her, were vilified.

Was it a clear-cut Hindu-Muslim issue in Muzaffarnagar?

Here are excerpts from what the principal characters had to say about the incident. The child’s father has expressed concern and anguish over his son being beaten up even as he told this newspaper that his son and his cousin have been studying there for years: “My family and I are worried about our future here. I am a farm labourer. I don’t want Tripta ma’am to be arrested or punished. My son and his cousin have been studying there for years. We only wanted an apology and an explanation from her. It was my nephew who shot the video and showed it to me on Thursday. I was shocked to see my boy being beaten over his identity. He was humiliated because he didn’t do his homework. We have never faced such an issue in the village, but now everyone is talking about it.”

There is no Hindu-Muslim dimension to the sordid episode.

Tripta Tyagi, the teacher in the dock, told The Indian Express: “The video has been edited. I said other things but those lines were removed. I made a mistake and I accept that. I shouldn’t have asked other students to hit him. I am a heart patient and am handicapped, so I couldn’t stand to hit him. I only said that Muslim mothers shouldn’t take their kids to their maternal home during exams. I was only trying to maintain discipline in class. I didn’t know the boy’s uncle was recording the video.”

According to this newspaper (August 27), the school has 50-60 students, roughly half of them Muslim. Several families said they were aware of corporal punishment being meted out to their children. Isn’t it bad enough that an innocent child was beaten up and humiliated for not doing his homework? Certainly, getting other children to beat him up dehumanises the classroom. But why communalise the issue?

While the Kathua school is a government higher secondary school, with direct accountability to the system, the one at Muzaffarnagar is a small private institution run by a differently-abled woman teacher. That school has been sealed. Why not allow the law to take its course? The Muzaffarnagar outrage can’t cancel the brutality of Kathua.

The writer is a former Member of Parliament and a columnist