Hyderabad: The video of a Muslim student being allegedly called a "terrorist" by a professor has gone viral on social media. The incident took place Manipal Institute of Technology in Karnataka where the alleged remark by the teacher resulted in an emotional outburst from the student.
The student, who seemed to be shocked by the teacher's remark said that "such jokes are unacceptable. You can't joke about my religion that too in such a manner." Seeing that the matter has taken a turn for the worse the teacher tried to calm him down by saying "you are just like my kid."
However, it had little effect in pacifying the agitated student who responded by saying " If my father spoke to me like this I would have disowned him." The teacher in a last-ditch effort to control the situation said " It was funny." But this infuriated the student even further who responded by saying " No Sir, it's not funny. 26/11 was not funny. Islamic terrorism is not funny. Being a Muslim in this country and facing this every day is not funny."
Following this, the teacher again said that the student was like his son receiving another angry response " Will you call your son a terrorist? How can you call me that? That too in front of so many people. You are a professor. You are teaching?" The teacher finally started to apologize but the agitated students says " just saying sorry does not change how you think or how you portray yourself."
Following the incident the University has suspended the concerned professor. "The University authorities has suspended the professor," University's PRO head SP Kar. "We condemn such acts as we are an institute that believes in sarwa dharma ( equal respect to all religions ) and vasudhaiva kutumbam ( one world, one family). Appropriate action has been taken and counselling is being provided to the student," he added.
Reacting to the incident eminent journalist Rana Ayyub stated in an Instagram post "A muslim student registers his protest after a professor refers to muslims as terrorists. I feel terribly terribly sorry for the young minds in India who are witnessing this prejudice and hate even in spaces that are meant to be safe and shield them from this bigotry that is all pervasive. Huge respect for this young boy but this is not the time for us to laud his courage. Why are our children being compelled to protest in spaces meant to be their safe havens, in spaces meant to be impartial. I cannot imagine the toll it must take on his emotional health. #islamophobia."
There was also several other angry responses to the video on social media.
