Reeling from BJP rifts, anti-incumbency, CM Chouhan latches on to Damoh school row to fuel poll campaign

#WATCH | FIR was registered in the matter, a detailed investigation is underway; strict action will be taken against culprit: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Damoh school row pic.twitter.com/37U4fYF1UL

— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) June 8, 2023

Late last month, a poster celebrating the school’s success in class 10 Board exams was put up outside its premises, featuring some non-Muslim students also in headscarves. The controversy flared amid swirling allegations about “religious conversion” and students being “forced” to sing Iqbal’s “Lab pe aati hai dua” poem.

The Damoh district education officer, S K Mishra had visited the school, spoke to the parents and submitted his report based on which the district Collector, Mayank Aggarwal, and the Superintendent of Police, Rakesh Singh, gave a clean chit to the school over religious conversion charges.

This set off a series of protests by right-wing groups, spearheaded by the Hindu Jagran Manch. These groups raised allegations of religious conversion, called for the dismissal of the Collector and the education officers. S K Mishra was even attacked by these groups, with his face smeared with ink.

Despite a clean chit given by the local administration, Home Minister Mishra ordered a probe. “District education officer was sent to the school and the parents have not made any complaints, despite that I have asked the police for further investigation,” he said on May 31.

As the protests against the school administration raged, CM Chouhan mounted an attack against the school administration from a well-publicised ‘Ladli Behna’ event at Chhatarpur. He told a gathering of women, “I was told in Damoh that girls were told to wear headscarves to go to school. This is a law that they had made. They are also teaching poetry of a man who talked about the division of the country. I want to warn you that in the land of Madhya Pradesh such things will not be allowed to operate.”

Invoking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name and his policies as he does in his every speech, Chouhan said, “The education policy that has been enacted by Prime Minister Modi will only be followed and if someone teaches something wrong in that school, or if any daughter is forced to wear a headscarf, then such a school will not be allowed to function. We will not allow such a school to function in Madhya Pradesh.”

Photo taken in a classroom in Madhya Pradesh’s Ganga Jamuna school. (Express photo)

The sharpest attack came from state BJP president V D Sharma, who has been grappling with putting together an election machinery in the face of party infighting and factionalism. Sharma demanded an investigation into a “jihadi empire set up by the school”. “I saw two female teachers who were Khare, they became Khan… This is not just love jihad, this is an attempt to set up a jihadi empire…. What is their relationship with terror funding…thousands of acres of land, where did they get? When did they get an opportunity to set up this jihadi empire, our sisters were trapped in love jihad and their religious conversion happened with the help of school authorities,” Sharma alleged.

On June 7, both Chouhan and Narrotam Mishra again spoke out against the school. Chouhan alleged, “In some areas of the state, conspiracies are being hatched for religious conversion, we will not let them succeed. We have also given instructions for investigation in the entire state. Reports are coming to us on the serious incident in Damoh. Two daughters have also given statements. They have been forced. This is a very serious matter. If this type of act is done by inviting innocent children in the name of education, then we will not tolerate it at any cost. Those who have these intentions will get the harshest punishment.”

Narrotam Mishra said, “From the first day itself we have been investigating the issue. This type of mentality will be destroyed in Madhya Pradesh… There are also allegations of meddling with the Indian map, this will also be investigated.”

The exterior of the Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School in Damoh. (Express photo)

Senior BJP leaders said this was the party’s attempt to “set the narrative of religious conversion in the state, which is a topic of importance for the tribal community and other backward communities in the state.”

“The people of Madhya Pradesh are soft and welcoming. They don’t face the issue of a hostile neighbouring country of Pakistan, the way Gujarat and Rajasthan do. But here the issue of religious conversion is big. In the past as well Christian missionaries targeting poor Hindus were turned into a political controversy. That is our USP, we can make a small issue into a big thing. It may be a small issue for the whole state in general, it may only be an important issue in that district, but it is a big issue for us,” said a BJP leader.

Said another BJP leader, “This issue is connected with the core agenda of Hindutva and always helps enthuse the party cadres and also serves to divide the votes. If an election is held now, we would have won.”

BJP spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai said, “BJP is a hardcore pro-Indian party. We will not entertain activities against society, state or nation at any cost. This is the message that we send out by speaking about the issue. The Congress is silent on this issue because that will harm their Muslim vote bank.”

The Congress, which otherwise loses no time in taking on the BJP on various rows, has maintained a silence over this issue, which is being seen as part of its strategy to “avoid falling into the BJP trap”.

Congress sources said this was an issue the party leadership did not want to speak about since it was a “fabricated issue of the BJP/RSS” which is doing this “out of insecurity”. “Why would we join such an issue which has been fabricated. It is apparent that they want us to fight the election on their terms. We have made them insecure because we have taken the symbol of Hanuman and made it into a potent force in the state. But we are clear on how we want to fight these elections and that is through local issues. They don’t want to talk about that and rake up these issues,” said a senior Congress leader.

A photo from the Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School in Damoh. (Express photo)

Said another Congress leader, “We don’t want to play a game of Hindutva with the BJP. When we come to power we will help them (the Damoh school) in whatever way possible. Right now we don’t want to allow the BJP set the narrative. We will fight the issue on our own terms.”

When contacted, the Damoh Congress MLA, Ajay Tandon, just said, “There is a high-level committee which is investigating the matter. Let it investigate the whole case first.”

Asked about the Congress’s silence, party spokesperson Piyush Babele said, “The local administration gave a clean chit and an FIR was still registered on the basis of Narottam Mishra’s statement, this is fishy. If the authorities are at fault they should be investigated. The matter is in court and investigation is ongoing.”

Meanwhile, for the first time since the row erupted, state Congress chief and ex-CM Kamal Nath spoke on it at a press conference in Bhopal Wednesday. Replying to a question on the use of bulldozer at the Damoh school, Nath said: “Without a proper investigation a bulldozer is being run, this is wrong. What is the main objective, what is the aim and source of this incident? This is something that must be understood.”

On Tuesday, a team from the Damoh municipal corporation arrived at the school with a bulldozer, claiming that they were “on a sanitation drive”. This was met with resistance from locals. The team eventually retreated, but returned in the evening alongside heavy police force. They entered the school premises and dismantled some parts that they charged were “unauthorised”.