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The Muslim Sanskrit professor boycotted over his religion

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29 November 2019

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The university has defended Firoz Khan's appointment

Students in the northern Indian city of Varanasi are up in arms over a Muslim professor hired to teach Sanskrit. They say that a person of Islamic faith cannot teach a language often associated with ancient Hinduism. BBC Hindi's Rajnish Kumar reports.

When Firoz Khan was offered his first job to teach Sanskrit literature at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University (BHU), he couldn't contain his excitement.

But it has been more than three weeks since and he is yet to conduct a single class.

As news of his appointment made the rounds across the campus on 6 November, a group of some 30 students staged a sit-in outside the vice-chancellor's office in protest.


Their issue? That it wasn't "right" for a Muslim professor to be teaching them Sanskrit.

But Prof Khan's relationship with the classical language, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan group and is the root of many Indian languages, is quite personal.

"When my father decided to send me to school, he chose one that taught Sanskrit because he also studied it and loved the language. My love for it and my association with Sanskrit began when I was a young boy in school," he said.

In ancient India, Sanskrit was the main language used by scholars and was sometimes referred to as devabhasha - the language of gods. Today, it is spoken by less than 1% of Indians and is mostly used by Hindu priests during religious ceremonies.

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Students have staged a sit-in to protest against Prof Khan's appointment

Reviving the language, which is closely linked to Hinduism and Hindu religious texts, has been a pet project for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Chakrapani Ojha, one of the students leading the protest, belongs to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the BJP. He says Prof Khan's appointment violates university laws.

But officials from the university disagree, saying that Mr Khan's appointment does not violate any rules.

"The university has unanimously selected the best candidate for the job," an official said.

Indian village where people speak in Sanskrit

However, for some of the students in opposition, this doesn't matter as much as Prof Khan's religion.

"If a Muslim professor teaches in the Sanskrit faculty, then the greatness of Hinduism is affected," Anand Mohan Jha said.

Amid the calls for his dismissal, there have also been teachers who have come out in support of Prof Khan.

"For almost 30 years, a Hindu man headed a department which covered the Urdu, Farsi and Arabic languages. In fact, he even had a degree which allowed him to teach the Koran," Aftab Ahmad Afaqi, head of the Urdu department, said.

"The Urdu department also has Hindu professors. Religion and language are two totally different things," he added.

Students have stopped protesting on campus - but they say that they will continue to boycott classes until the professor has been dismissed.

But Prof Khan says he doesn't understand what his religion has to do with his expertise on a language.

"Why is it a problem if a person of a particular religion learns and teaches a language associated with another religion? I studied Sanskrit because I wanted to understand the literature of this language. It is said that India's prestige has two facets to it - one is Sanskrit and the other is Sanskriti (which translates to culture). If you want to understand India, you cannot do so in entirety without reading Sanskrit."

Many students have also come out in favour of the professor. At a recent march held in his support, students carried banners that read "We are with you Dr Firoz Khan".

"The protest against him is stupid and arbitrary," said student Rashmi Singh. "India is a democratic and secular country - the selection of a professor can't be based on religion or caste."

www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-india-50557616
 
According to Salman and Shahrukh Khan this man should do a Bollywood dance.

I mean I get that he bummed out because his appointment is being protested but seriously bro its not worth it. They have killed people for eating lamb meat. Women saved only to be raped by the saviors. Gang rapes happening when women go out to take dumps. This guy is being let off easy.
 
I mean I get that he bummed out because his appointment is being protested but seriously bro its not worth it. They have killed people for eating lamb meat. Women saved only to be raped by the saviors. Gang rapes happening when women go out to take dumps. This guy is being let off easy.

Just do a little search on Google with regards to rape in India. These bastards are the masters of rape.
 
maybe he should start teaching proto indo-european! if the vedics have an issue with him teaching sanskrit!!

 
Just do a little search on Google with regards to rape in India. These bastards are the masters of rape.
and you probably know the real facts about b@st@rds as i assume as perceived by your confidence and words you came into existence after another b@st@rd did his favorite time pass ( r@pe actually ) with full glory .
 
This is India under Modi. Shining like a diamond.
It's quite perplexing, that from the article itself, you conviniently ignore the opinions of the staff and students against this hogwash and go straight to "this is India under Modi".

If you want to further your own agendas, you're more than welcome to cherry pick innumerable faults we have and rightly criticise them, but this reeks of biased selection.

I'd understand the criticism if the professor had been fired or physically assaulted on basis of his religion and no lawful action had been carried out against the perpetrators.

Anything to further your own biases:cuckoo:
 
It's quite perplexing, that from the article itself, you conviniently ignore the opinions of the staff and students against this hogwash and go straight to "this is India under Modi".

If you want to further your own agendas, you're more than welcome to cherry pick innumerable faults we have and rightly criticise them, but this reeks of biased selection.

I'd understand the criticism if the professor had been fired or physically assaulted on basis of his religion and no lawful action had been carried out against the perpetrators.

Anything to further your own biases:cuckoo:
Don't even mind replying to that guy. He is an immature person and no matter what you say, he'll play the same tune. He just loves to hate.
 
Don't even mind replying to that guy. He is an immature person and no matter what you say, he'll play the same tune. He just loves to hate.
Using his own line of logic, one can extrapolate the current student protests in Pakistan to cherry pick whatever conclusion that suits my biases.

One can go even further and say this is the new "riyasat e madina" with 0% gdp towards education.

No doubt op disawow's the current protests not withstanding the hypocrisy that entails.

@maximuswarrior do you get paid to mindlessly bash India or is this a personal effort your putting in and fullfilling the patriotic quota for the day? You know you can go back and actually do something to improve your country.
Bashing India might make you feel good but More often than not your attempts are embarrassing.
 
Using his own line of logic, one can extrapolate the current student protests in Pakistan to cherry pick whatever conclusion that suits my biases.

One can go even further and say this is the new "riyasat e madina" with 0% gdp towards education.

No doubt op disawow's the current protests not withstanding the hypocrisy that entails.

@maximuswarrior do you get paid to mindlessly bash India or is this a personal effort your putting in?

More often than not your attempts are embarrassing.
Doesn't matter if he gets paid or puts in personal effort. We should just ignore these kind of people as they are just not worth it.
 
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