Karnataka mantri BC Nagesh: Teacher calling student Kasab shouldn’t be big deal

BENGALURU: If politicians calling each other names like "Ravana" and "Shakuni" don't become an issue, there's no reason why an assistant professor allegedly referring to a student as "Kasab" should be a big deal, Karnataka primary and secondary education minister B C Nagesh said on Tuesday about the outrage sparked by the incident at Manipal Institute of Technology.
Nagesh told reporters that the teacher, seen in a viral video alluding to the student as a terrorist and then facing an outburst that forced him to apologise, shouldn't have said what he did. "But it is just politics to appeal to a vote bank," he said, referring to the controversy that erupted even after both sides decided to bury it.
The minister's remark came on a day BJP and its allies bristled at new Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's "Ravana with his 100 heads" barb at PM Modi during a poll rally in Gujarat.
The Udupi-based institute issued an official condemnation of the remark, besides barring the teacher from the classroom for now. "Even in the assembly, we have spoken like this many times. It doesn't become an issue. When someone speaks about Kasab, it becomes one. Why?'" Nagesh said.
In the video, recorded by a witness, the unnamed teacher is seen defending his remark as "a joke" when confronted by the student. "26/11 isn't funny. Being Muslim and facing such things in this country isn't funny. How can you label me a terrorist in front of everyone in the class? 'Sorry' alone won't help, sir," the student says.
When the assistant professor insists he didn't mean to brand the student a terrorist, the latter shoots back, "Will you talk to your son like that? Will you call him by the name of a terrorist?"