By Matters India Reporter
Mangaluru, Feb 13, 2024: A Catholic school in the southern Indian city of Mangaluru has suspended one of its nun teachers for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Hindu deities.
The students of Gerosa High School on February 12 were made to chant “Jai Sri Ram” (Hail Lord Ram) by a local legislator belonging to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
The trouble began after an audio clip from the mother of a student went viral. It alleged that the nun had made derogatory remarks about Hindu gods during a moral education class in early February.
On February 12, Hindu groups led by legislator Vedavyas Kamath barged into the school and demanded immediate suspension of the teacher, Mary Prabha Selvaraj.
Yielding to the pressure from the protesters, the school, managed by the Sisters of Maria Bambina, suspended the nun with immediate effect and appointed another teacher to the post, even as an enquiry by the Education Departmental was on.
In the audio clip, the mother of the seventh grader alleges that the teacher had said Lord Ram was a myth and Ramayana and Mahabharat were only epics. The Hindu woman also alleged that the teacher had made negative remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi for promoting the Ayodhya temple for political gains.
The controversy began February 8 after another parent lodged a police complaint against Sister Prabha for insulting the Ayodhya Sri Ram Mandir and Lord Rama.
Modi on January 22 opened the temple built in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram.
Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Mullai Muhilan visited the school on February 12 to conduct an inquiry into the matter along with officials of the Education Department and police officials.
Meanwhile a video has appeared showing Kamath, who represents the Mangalore South constituency in the Karnataka assembly, making the students chant “Jai Sri Ram” in front of the Catholic school campus. Students in their uniform were seen repeating the slogan, shouted by the legislator.
Father Faustine Lobo, a senior priest of the Mangalore diocese, told Matters India that everything looked like a “pre planned stage drama” and a hooked up story to promote the election campaign.
“They say the teacher was repeating the same thing for the past five years and why this protest now?” asked the priest who termed the protest as part of a national agenda to create problems at Christian schools.
India is to elect its new federal government by May when the five-year term of the current regime led by the BJP will end.
According to the audio clip, Sister Prabha allegedly made those remarks during a class on “Work is Worship” which was part of a moral science class in the seventh grade.
Eric C Lobo, a professor in a medical college and a Catholic lay leader, condemned the nun’s remarks, if they are really true. “But I do not believe a teacher, that too a nun, could make such remarks, as spread in the social media,” he told Matters India and insisted the allegations were exaggerated.
The layman also questioned the action of the legislator to barge into the institution with his followers and make the students to chant Jai Sri Ram and spread the video as a campaign tool.
“Even if the matter is true, the Education Department has started an enquiry, and a responsible leader should not have done this,” he added.