Unlike his Banaras Hindu University brother, new Sanskrit teacher at Belur enjoys job

Kolkata : At a time when students of the Banaras Hindu University are up in arms over appointment of a Muslim Sanskrit teacher, a man from the minority community selected as an Assistant Professor of Sanskrit by a city-based college on Friday said he was overwhelmed by warm welcome from students as well faculty members.

Ramzan Ali has been chosen to teach Sanskrit at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira in Belur, on the outskirts of the Bengal's capital. He joined his new assignment on Tuesday last. He earlier taught at a college in north Bengal for nine years.

Ali said he was overwhelmed by the kind reception he received from the students and faculty members. "I was welcomed by principal Swami Shastrajnandaji Maharaj, and everyone...

Maharaj told me that my religious identity was not important, what mattered was my grasp over the language, my indepth knowledge and my ability to share it with the students," Ali told PTI.

The Belur based institution is a fully residential degree college for boys affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It was founded in 1941 by the Ramakrishna Mission.

It got the 11th NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) in the college category in 2018-19 academic session from Union HRD ministry.

Asked about the agitation in Uttar Pradesh based BHU, Ali said he would not like to make any comment about another educational institution, but "I believe Sanskrit embodies India's inclusiveness, its rich culture.

Don't forget Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. How can anyone bar people from other religions from learning and teaching Sanskrit?"

A section of students at BHU has been demonstrating against the appointment of Feroz Khan as the assistant professor of the varsity's Sanskrit department.

Although the BHU authorities backed him, Khan has not been able to take classes.