Teacher's death sparks blame game in India

Thiruvananthapuram: The squall of protests over a contentious Grade 7 social studies textbook in Kerala took a shocking turn with the beating death last week of James Augustine, a primary school headmaster, but rival political groupings are now pointing fingers at each other for the tragedy.

Augustine died after he was beaten up, allegedly by Muslim Youth League activists trying to disrupt cluster meetings of teachers organised by the education department.

Opposition parties in the state, led by the Congress, have been fiercely campaigning against the introduction of the textbook, alleging it represented an attempt to promote atheism and confuse young minds on religious values.

The government and Education Minister M.A. Baby have held all along that there is nothing wrong with the book.

The opposition demand to withdraw the book has the backing of Christian, Hindu and Muslim organisations. The Catholic Church and the Nair Service Society, in fact, have been at the forefront of the protests.

The death of James Augustine has, however, given the government a stick to beat the opposition with. The ruling Left Democratic Front is now accusing the opposition and its leader Oommen Chandy of having instigated the incidents that led to Augustine's death. Chandy has in turn blamed the LDF leadership for things coming to such a pass.

Fuel to the fire

The education minister's presence in a post-mortem room of the Kozhikode Medical College, where Augustine's body was examined, added fuel to the fire but Baby clarified in the state assembly that there was nothing unlawful about his presence in the hospital.

State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the Kondotty Police had registered a case of murder against five MYL activists.

At the heart of the controversy is a chapter in the book that suggests that a child can choose his religion after growing up, rather than parents vouching for his faith at the time of school admission.