Lucknow: After two months of probe, a committee set up by the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur has concluded that the recitation of a Faiz Ahmad Faiz poem by students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act on campus last year was “unsuitable to the time and place”.
The six-member panel, which submitted its report last week, also recommends “counselling” of five teachers and six students who participated in the protest as their act of “reciting Faiz poem” on December 17 during a demonstration was “less than desirable”.
The inquiry was closed after the student, who recited the poem, accepted the panel’s observation and regretted his act in writing, the institute’s official said.
The students and faculty had held the event in protest against police excesses at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi last December.
The Urdu poem’s lines which sparked controversy were: “From the abode of God, when the icons of falsehood will be removed/ When we, the faithful, who have been barred from sacred places, will be seated on a high pedestal/ When crowns will be tossed, when thrones will be brought down”.
Vashi Mant Sharma, a teacher along with 16 others who filed complaint at the higher-ups, had said, “The lines hurt my religious sentiments. How can they sing a poem that says idols will be brought down?”
Manindra Agarwal, committee chairperson and deputy director of IIT-K, told media, “The person who recited the poem agreed to the panel’s observation that it was not the right time and place to recite the poem. He wrote a note saying he regrets in case anybody’s feelings were hurt. So, the matter was closed.”
