Threatened teacher touches ABVP student leaders' feet

Bhopal: In a disturbing sight, a professor in a government college in Madhya Pradesh was seen in a video, which went viral in social media on Thursday, touching feet of student leaders associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) after the latter allegedly threatened him to register a case of sedition against him for stopping them to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.

Professor Dinesh Gupta of the Government PG College in Mandsaur on Thursday went on three-day leave after the incident that took place on Wednesday came to light on Thursday sparking outrage in academic circle in MP.

College faculty sources said the student leaders were raising slogans such as “Vande Mataram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” while marching in the corridor of the college to present a memorandum to the principal over a delay in announcement of results of fourth semester (Science) examination.

Professor Gupta who was inside a classroom appealed to them not to create noise by shouting slogans as it was becoming difficult for him to give lecture to the students. Accusing the professor of preventing them from raising patriotic slogans, the student leaders allegedly called him “anti-national” and even reportedly threatened to file FIR against him for his “anti-national act”. In the video, the professor was seen chasing the student leaders and touching feet of each of them.

Later, reacting to the incident, Mandsaur district coordinator of ABVP Pawan Sharma told local media that he felt bad over the incident and apologized to the professor for it.

He however said the student leaders got upset when the professor prevented them from chanting patriotic slogans.