Most educational institutions and business establishments remained closed across Madhya Pradesh on Teachers’ Day.
UJJAIN/BHOPAL: Most educational institutions and business establishments remained closed across Madhya Pradesh on Teachers’ Day, barring tension in some places during a Congress-sponsored bandh to demand a CBI probe into Prof H S Sabharwal’s death in Ujjain last week.
As rest of the country celebrated the day, Congress and NSU(I) activists fanned out in Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Jabbalpur and Ujjain asking shop owners to down their shutters, accusing the ruling BJP in the state of trying to “shield” those responsible for the professor’s death on August 26 during a college election.
Barring stray incidents of skirmishes between ABVP supporters, opposing closure of shops, and NSU (I) activists in Jabalpur and adjoining areas, the day-long strike remained peaceful amidst elaborate security arrangements.
“The situation is peaceful and no violence has so far been reported from any place in the state,” police said citing reports reaching Bhopal.
Commercial centres, business hubs and market places in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur presented a deserted look.
Teachers wear black bands
Gloom hung large over the temple city on Teachers’ Day on Tuesday as professors of Madhav College paid homage to their colleague H S Sabharwal. A large number of teachers, wearing black bands, also took out a rally carrying photographs of Sabharwal and observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to him at Shahid Park.
Former Madhav College principal and Sabharwal’s friend, Shiv Sharma, told reporters that the deceased was one of the founder members of Vidyarti Parishad, which was later renamed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Ironically, ABVP activists were being accused of assaulting Sabharwal.
A grim silence hung over Sabharwal’s residence where mourning family members recounted how hordes of students used to visit him on this day. “We can’t come to term with his death,” his son Himanshu Sabharwal said.
He demanded action against the Chief Minister, administrative and police officials, for failing to control the situation and ‘providing shelter to the culprits.’
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