Bareilly: The principal of a government school in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district has been suspended by the state’s Education department after Hindu right-wing groups complained to the police that students recite Allama Iqbal’s nazm ‘lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri’ during the morning assembly.
The police have filed a case against principal and a teacher but no arrests have been made so far.
A video of children reciting a popular Urdu language prayer ‘lab pe aati hai dua banke tamanna meri’ in the morning assembly was widely circulated on social media sites. Following this, the principal was suspended by the education department.
The clip shows the part where the children are heard singing the lines ‘mere allah burai se bachaana mujhko’.
The police, according to IANS, said they filed the case because the prayer is not part of the daily prayer schedule of government schools and has to do ‘with one religion’.
The Education department said the principal has been suspended on the basis of initial information and they will conduct an inquiry into the matter.
The song in question was penned in 1902 by Urdu poet Sir Mohammad Iqbal, who also wrote the famous lines “Sare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara”.
In 2019, a headmaster in the state’s Pilibhit district was also suspended after the students were heard singing the same prayer. Following a complaint by the local Hindu right-wing group Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the authorities had taken action.
