Headlines
Indian teacher in Qatar forced to quit over Modi caricature
Doha, Feb 26
A woman teacher in an Indian
school in Qatar's capital Doha has reportedly been forced to quit her
job after she posted a caricature of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on her Facebook page, media reported Thursday.
According to the
report in The Peninsula daily, the incident took place last week
triggering a big controversy among a section of the expatriate Indian
community who said the Photoshop caricature was an insult to Modi.
In
the caricature, a picture of the Indian prime minister is superimposed
with that of a black-and-white striped dog emptying its bladder.
According
to the teacher who is an Indian, the caricature was circulating in
social media and she just picked it and shared it on her Facebook
account.
“I didn’t create the caricature nor did I post it to
insult Modi,†the teacher of the MES Indian School was quoted as telling
the newspaper.
“I just used it to protest against what has been happening back home (a reference to alleged gagging of freedom of speech!).â€
According
to the report, the teacher was initially suspended for three days
pending an inquiry by the management. This week she was asked to resign
which she did.
Her friends told The Penisula that they found the
school’s action shocking because India being a democratic country, its
citizens enjoyed freedom of expression.
When contacted by the
newspaper, the school management said the teacher was asked to quit
since she used the school’s name and logo with Modi’s caricature.
“Also,
being a teacher, she shouldn’t have posted such a derogatory caricature
on her Facebook account. A teacher is a role model for the entire
society,†a senior official from the management was quoted as saying.
However,
the teacher, who did not want to be identified, said she did not know
how the school’s name and logo appeared on her posting as she was part
of a group.
Stating that she received threats after she posted
the caricature, she said: “The influence of these people (a reference to
Hindu rightist supporters of Modi) can be gauged from the fact that
they can silence anti-Modi comments and photographs on social media even
in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries.â€
The GCC
countries comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates, are home to a large expatriate Indian population.
The school, however, said that after the posting of the caricature, the school got calls from several parents.
The report, citing a source, said the school came under intense external pressure
to dismiss the teacher â€and her resignation was a compromise formula, although a school official denied itâ€.