Jai Shri Ram’ slogan raised as Muslim students pray in Rajasthan’s Kota institute

Scores of Hindutva students started vociferously chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans near the place where Muslim students were offering prayers in the Allen Institute of Kota in Rajasthan in India.

The unpleasant saga came to light as video clips of the incident went viral on social media. The video shows Muslim students offering prayers inside a designated room and a crowd of students shouting Hindutva slogans outside.

C.R. Chaudhry, vice president of the institute, did not take the anti-Muslim act a matter of serious in view of the present vitiated climate.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan police in Kota claimed through a tweet that the video in question was from 2020. No such incident happened there recently, they maintained. “This video is from 2020. No such activity took place now. At that time effective action was taken by the concerned organisation. We constantly monitor such developments. The law and order situation is normal,” the Kota Police claimed.

However, Altnews, a fact-checking website, disputed the police version and said the incident in question indeed happened on 23 June this year.

“The video is not from 2020. This happened on the 23rd. Around June 10-12, approximately 25 of us had taken permission for namaz from the principal, the floor in charge and the ground staff. Initially, we were supposed to pray on the fifth floor. But when more students wanted to join, the principal suggested that we pray on our respective floors. Some people raised Jai Shri Ram slogans when we started to pray on our floors, but we ignored them. June 23 was Friday, so during the Asr prayers, many students came and loudly chanted Jai Shri Ram slogans on the fourth floor of Block A. However, no serious altercation followed that incident. We left peacefully and attended our classes,” a student was quoted by Altnews.

Another student told a website that videos were deleted from their phones and they were asked not to offer namaz inside the institute for a few days. A student, who was also among those who prayed on 23 June, said that they did not respond to the sloganeering even though such slogans are raised frequently in the institute, especially in the presence of Muslim teachers.

The video has evoked sharp reactions on social media.

A social media user, Rahul Mukherji, tweeted: “Muslims were praying. And that triggered the Hindus to agitate, shouting Jai Shri Ram. These are not some RW “activists”. But students from a coaching institute. They’ll go on to become doctors and engineers. An entire generation of bigots in the making”.