The students of Calicut medical college recently held protests against a controversial circular issued by the Kerala Director of Medical Education (DME) allegedly banning the celebration of Hindu festival Raksha Bandhan celebrations in medical colleges, reports Times Now.
According to the reports, the students of Calicut medical college has raised their anger against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government for allegedly imposing a ban against celebrating the festival in all government-run medical colleges in the state because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kerala ‘Raksha Bandhan’ row: Students of Calicut medical college hold protest against the circular issued by the Director of Medical Education.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) October 6, 2020
Listen in to reactions. pic.twitter.com/FpJIOulypy
Referring to the DME’s order as ‘stupid’, one student said that they will be protesting against the ban and asserted that they will not allow the Kerala government to issue such orders again in the future.
“We think, they are doing such things to hide the mistakes of state government during the COVID times. We will not sit mute to these attempts aiming at defaming Raksha Bandhan. The students of Calicut medical college came up with the protest two days and all other medical, dental and nursing colleges across the state will react soon,” said another medical student protesting against the alleged ban on Raksha Bandhan by Kerala government in medical colleges.
What was the controversy?
Earlier, there were reports that Kerala State Medical Education Director Dr Ramla Beevi had issued a diktat stating that Raksha Bandhan festival will not be celebrated in government medical colleges.
The order issued by the DME had allegedly stated that RSS ‘Rakshabandhan events’ were conducted in previous years without the prior permission of authorities. Hence, taking a serious view, the Kerala government had reportedly recommended authorities to prevent recurrence of any such religious events.
However, another report by Edexlive had suggested the notice was issued by the Directorate of Medical Education on September 11. The notice reportedly talked about a particular event Raksha Bandhan in medical college without prior permission.
“In this scenario, it has been decided that these celebrations can only be conducted in government medical colleges with prior permission from the institution head and the government authorities,” the notice reportedly read.
No ban was ordered, DME clarifies
Following the order, there were several social media posts and reports claiming that the DME has ‘banned’ Raksha Bandhan celebrations. However, the authorities later clarified that nothing was banned and the order only asked prior permission to be sought before such events.
Commenting on the recent controversy, Dr Beevi had also said that no groups were ever banned from conducting any celebrations.
“Last year, there was a clash between two groups in a medical college during the Raksha Bandhan celebrations. Keeping that in mind, we have now asked the students to only seek prior permission. No one is banned from celebrating any festival,” she said to Edexlive.
