Udupi, Nov 16: A group of hardline Hindu activists staged a communally motivated protest against a private school in Kundapura taluk of Karnataka’s Udupi district after school authorities included 'Azan' (Muslim prayer call) in sarva dharma prayer.
Ironically, the school management was quick to tender an apology and promise the Hindutva outfits not to repeat such things in future.
The incident took place on Tuesday, November 15, when the Mother Teresa Memorial School at Shankaranarayana in Kundapura hosted a taluk-level primary and high school sports meet at the playground of a Government PU College.
The school was founded by two lady entrepreneurs Renita Lobo and Shamitha Rao and sponsored by Mother Teresa Memorial Education Trust. Mangaluru.
According to Shamitha Rao, “the students were performing prayer songs on the theme 'sarva dharma' (all religions). Accordingly, the dance started with chanting 'Om' and later featured the bell of a church and continued with Azan. The dance ended with asathoma sadgamaya...”
“It was our mistake for having chosen Azan. We had no intention to hurt the sentiments of the people. Utmost care will be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur in the school,” she added.
"The 25-year-old school has been playing ‘gayathri mantra’ when children enter the school premises daily through our intercom system. Later, we play national anthem at 9.09 am before the commencement of the classes. We have been giving emphasis to communal harmony in the vicinity,” she said.
Umesh Shetty, former taluk panchayat member said, “I was at the stage when the students performed and we objected to it immediately. We did not want to stage a protest there itself as there were a large number of students at the venue and we did not want to raise the issue of religion in front of them."
Hindutva activists staged a protest at Shankaranarayana on Wednesday condemning the incident and submitted a complaint to the BEO to ensure that such incidents do not occur again in the taluk. "We raised an objection to making Hindu students dance for Azan,” activists said.
When asked about the incident, the Udupi DDPI, N K Shivaraj, said, “the school authorities have clarified that the purpose of making the students dance for Azan was to observe religious harmony. It aimed only at showcasing harmony and nothing else.”
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