A convent school in Mangaluru, southern India, on February 15 denied the allegations from some Hindu nationalist groups that a nun teacher had made derogatory remarks against Hindu deities.
St. Gerosa High School’s denial came three days after it suspended the nun, yielding to the pressure from the Hindu groups.
A press statement from Sister Anitha, the school headmistress, clarified that Sister Mary Prabha Selvaraj had not insulted Hindu gods but only taught Nobel Laureate poet Ravindranath Tagore’s poem on “Work is Worship” in a moral science class.
The headmistress said the nun had denied belittling Hindu deities. What she did was to explain to the students the meaning of the poem. The teacher had clarified that she had not hurt Hindu religious sentiments.
The trouble started after an audio clip from the mother of an unnamed student went viral. It alleged that the nun had made derogatory remarks about Hindu gods during class in early February.
On February 12, Hindu groups led by local legislator Vedavyas Kamath barged into the school and demanded immediate suspension of the teacher.
“As alleged by the anonymous woman in the voice message and the BJP leaders, Sr Prabha did not make any derogatory remarks against Hindu or any other religion or on the prime minister while explaining the poem.”
The headmistress also clarified that the school management had urged the district administration to conduct an enquiry into the matter, stating that the audio message was far from the truth. The school also sought protection from any untoward incident.
“A complaint was also lodged with the police to take action against the woman’s audio that had gone viral,” Sister Anitha said.