‘BJP will make bottu, bangles mandatory for Hindu students’: Union Min Bandi Sanjay

Confident that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would form the government in Telangana in the next Assembly elections, Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday, July 17, said that the party would make it mandatory for Hindu girl students to wear a bindi and bangles in accordance with Hindu Sanatana Dharma.“As soon as our party forms the government, in accordance with Hindu Sanatana Dharma’s values and culture, we will make it mandatory for girl students to wear a bottu [bindi]. We will propagate these messages of Hindu Sanatana Dharma across,” he said.The Minister made the remarks in the wake of the controversy over a minority school in Hyderabad allegedly assigning the recitation of Islamic texts—Kalima, which refers to the six fundamental basic beliefs of the faith, and Surah Al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran—as homework to Class 2 students. He further demanded that the government revoke the school’s recognition, alleging that it had imposed Islam on a Hindu student and created “enmity between religions”.A day earlier, a row erupted over Success The School, a private minority school in Hyderabad’s Saidabad, allegedly assigning religious teachings as homework to Class 2 students. The school is part of the Success Group of Institutions, run by Mohammad Irfan Ullah.Police said that all but one of the students in the Class 2 section were Hindu. The aunt of a Hindu student protested outside the school on July 15, questioning why religious teachings are being imparted at the school.A day later, tension prevailed outside the school as BJP members tried to enter the school and protest against what they described as “Education Jihad.” As the situation escalated several protesting leaders were kept under detention. Meanwhile, the student’s family and the school management resolved the issue internally without any police complaint. The teacher who gave the homework was terminated from the school. However, former BJP Legal Cell convenor Karunasagar Kashimshetty claimed that the action was a mere “eyewash” and subsequently filed a complaint against the school at Saidabad police station. A case has been registered against the school charging them with deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings and cruelty to children by caregivers.