Manohar Lal Khattar-led Haryana government found itself in a fix after allegedly asking government teachers to perform duties of a priest. As per an IANS report, the order was issued by the Education Department officials, asking teachers to carry out religious duties. The order purportedly asked teachers to distribute ‘prasad’ during a religious festival in Yamunanagar district. As per the report, a note issued by Yamunanagar District Education Officer (DEO) sought an explanation from certain teachers who had failed to report on duty for training for the ‘Kapal Mochan’ festival of the Hindus on October 29. The teachers working in school were even asked to get training and carry out the work of priests in view of lakhs of people coming for the festival, the report added.
Further, it was reported that a section of teachers have lodged their protest against the decision. The protestors also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of pursuing a “Hindutva agenda”, IANS report said. However, BJP spokesman Jawahar Yadav defended the Khattar government’s decision and said that teachers were not being asked to perform the duties of priests.
Yadav added that order given to the teachers was only in connection with making arrangements for the festival at the district level. Speaking to some TV news channels, Yadav said that there was no agenda behind the move, adding that only 15-20 teachers were directed to carry out duties during the festival. The deployment of teachers was sought as nearly five lakh people were expected for the four-day-long festival which started on Wednesday.
The BJP spokesperson added that studies of students would not be affected as the duties were assigned during holidays. Speaking to IANS, State adviser to the Haryana Teachers Association said that the government order was “unwarranted”.