MP Prof Who Touched ABVP Students’ Feet Kicked out From Professors’ Association

A senior professor from Mandsaur’s Rajiv Gandhi PG College has been kicked out from the Regional Government University Professors’ Association’s secretary post for reportedly having touched feet of the ABVP students. The professor has been accused of defaming the gravity of the profession by touching ABVP activists’ feet.

According to the earlier reports, the ABVP students had called the professor, Dinesh Gupta, ‘anti-national’ when he had asked them not to raise slogans outside his classroom on September 27. The students from the right wing party had reportedly forced him to apologise following which, he touched their feet – in a gesture of seeking apology.

Along with Gupta, the association has removed the principal of the college, R K Sohoni, who was district head of the professors’ association Mandsaur – for backing professor Gupta.

The regional head of the association, Kailash Teyagi, said, “Both the professors have defamed the dignity of the professors, so, the association decided to remove them from all posts and discontinue all the contracts with them.”

He argued, “If the students were raising slogans inside the college premises and were misbehaving with the professors, then, they should have called the police. Touching feet was not a solution, and it has diluted the gravity of the profession.”

Commenting over the issue, Congress media coordinator Narendra Saluja targeted the association for the move.  He said, “Instead of standing with them, the association has removed the professors for standing against injustice. Association is acting like a government agency.”

Hours after the incident, Congress President Rahul Gandhi took on BJP. He wrote on Twitter: “In Mandsaur ruling party BJP’s student wing defamed a professor, which kind of culture this is? In a country where teachers treated next to god.”

The incident

Gupta was taking a class on Thursaday, when a group of ABVP activists reportedly entered the college premises, and started chanting slogans aloud. They were on their way to submit a memorandum to the principal to protest against the delay in announcement of the results of B.Sc fourth semester exams. Gupta asked protesters not to raise slogans, as he was facing difficulty in teaching due to the noise.

The activists allegedly called him an “anti-national” in response, as he stopped them from yelling ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. They allegedly threatened to file a police complaint for his “unpatriotic” act, if he didn’t apologise.

A video that emerged on Thursday showed Gupta running after the ABVP activists to touch their feet even as they tried to stop him. Later in the day, he applied for a three-day leave, left for home, and reportedly switched off his phone. In another video, Gupta is heard saying that he is more patriotic than ABVP activists and “will chant patriotic slogans not once but thousand times, but not at their instance.’’

Speaking to the reporters, Principal Sohoni said that Gupta was not at fault. He said that the professor was upset over the developments and had applied for a three-day leave because he felt humiliated.

ABVP activist Pawan Sharma said, “He could have stopped the class and let us pass.” He called the act of touching students’ feet “a publicity stunt”. Sharma and other ABVP activists refuted the allegation that they made Dr Gupta apologise, but insisted that it was their right to raise patriotic slogans and anyone who stopped them risked being called “unpatriotic”.

Mandsaur MLA Yashpal Sisodiya said the incident was not as big as it was being made out to be. The BJP MLA said that there is no video footage yet that proves that ABVP activists made Dr Gupta apologise. “I am trying to get the students to apologise if they are at fault. Or to get him (Gupta) to pardon the students.’’