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This is the story of a prime minister looking for a fifth term in power and a school. The school is the only English-language one in the vicinity, where the students, both Hindu and Muslim, are mostly first-generation learners. This is the story of Shivraj Singh Chauhan, a leader who grew up to be his beloved uncle or “Mama,” a caring CM who is an earnest distributor of welfare schemes, now struggling against the incumbents by courting a different nickname, “Bulldozer Mama,” and bragging about the divisions he stirs up.
The ruthless ways in which his government has persecuted the minority-run Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School in Damoh, which caters to the children of farmers, bidi-makers and laborers – for Iqbal’s impassioned verse recited by its students as part of their morning prayers and for a poster celebrating the academic successes of their headscarves – are A case study of what the state should not be.
After right-wing groups increased the hype on social media, claiming religious conversion, the state’s home secretary ordered an investigation. The Prime Minister himself shook a stern finger at the school “for teaching it the poetry of a man who spoke of dividing the country”. Taking a cue from their political superiors, the Education Department deacquainted the school—and suddenly discovered that it had no “proper library” and “no suitable practical materials”. Now the police have arrested the school principal, math teacher and security guard. Until Tuesday evening, a bulldozer entered.
Chauhan sure knows what’s at stake here. After all, he has often acknowledged and publicized the importance of a good education to make a good citizen. In April, his government announced that it would deposit fees for children of families with annual income up to Rs 8 lakh – raising the ceiling from Rs 6 lakh. Last year, the Council of Ministers expressed a desire to educate schoolchildren. Now as he directs a conniving ear to plot a religious conversion to shut down a school for children from families struggling to make ends meet, Chauhan must know that the costs of pandering to prejudice are exorbitant. Moreover, he may not even bring in votes in the elections later this year. Although the two states are different, Chauhan must note that the hijab dispute cannot save the unremarkable Basavaraj Bommai government in Karnataka.
The attack by the mighty state of Madhya Pradesh on the small school in Damoh is part of a hawkish impulse by CM – a timed political revision in an election year of illegal religious schools that ‘teach bigotry’; tightening of Madhya Pradesh’s Freedom of Religion Act 2021 in response to the clamor against the “love jihad”; Demolition of homes of those allegedly involved in communal violence after Ramnavami in Khargone. Chauhan wants to paint a better and bigger picture of himself on the national stage, and wishes to be taken seriously in his home state and abroad. So, he has to decide: Should he play the divisive card on the sidelines, hoping his base won’t abandon him? Or is he doing the right thing: remembering the oath of office, listening to the girl crying that she is not allowed to go to school. In politics, conscience may not be forever watchful — but a voter with a stake in his child’s future is always watching.
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