Education officer Mahesh Palkar had issued a circular to all the civic schools on July 23, much before Samita Kamble moved a notice of motion on August 23 regarding inclusion of Yoga in daily activities of schools.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, who led the protest rally against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at Azad Maidan, announced on Friday that they will start a signature campaign and will not send children to civic schools if Yoga and Suryanamaskar was forced upon Urdu medium schools. Sources claimed that Samajwadi Party Leaders are seeking help from the ulemas and religious leaders to convey this to the entire community through places of worship.
Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party leader in the BMC, has sent a legal notice to the municipal commissioner on Friday and has asked him to refrain from implementing the resolution making Yoga and Suryanamaskar mandatory in all civic schools. Shaikh has also sought his reply within a week. He demanded that the civic education officer, who has issued a circular in July on the matter, should withdraw it immediately and the EO should be suspended from services.
Education officer Mahesh Palkar had issued a circular to all the civic schools on July 23, much before Samita Kamble moved a notice of motion on August 23 regarding inclusion of Yoga in daily activities of schools. However, no one was aware of the circular until the notice of motion was tabled in the general body Meeting of the corporation.
The notice of motion, demanding that Suryanamaskar and Yoga should be practised at the prayer time — just before the start of the school — was approved in the general body meeting on Tuesday amidst much uproar and objection by all the opposition parties including Samajwadi Party, NCP, Congress and MNS.
Shaikh went on to give the statement that if the Suryanamaskar is made compulsory then "we will not send our children to schools". Shaikh in his legal notice has stated that out of total 1,285 civic schools, there are at least 400 Urdu medium schools and about 1 lakh students in them. "In the view of constitutional provisions contained in Part-III, more specifically Article 25 to 28 thereof, every citizen of India is entitled to preach, practise, propagate a religion of their choice including systems adopted by such religion," stated the legal notice.
Shaikh said that Islam does not allow bowing before anybody other than Allah. Suryanamaskar is a religious practice of offering prayer to the Sun which is not allowed in our religion. "BJP has already entered our kitchen by dictating what to eat and what we shouldn't. Now they are trying to brainwash our children by saffronisation of education introducing its ideology. We will not tolerate this," said Shaikh
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