Kerala opposition leader raises issue of school vandalism in Telangana with CM Revanth Reddy

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan on Thursday spoke with Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy regarding the incident of vandalism at a school managed by a Kerala-based church in Mancherial district of the state.

The ‘protection council’ of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese of the Syro Mylabar Church had issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the incident at the church-managed Blessed Mother Teresa High School located in Kannepalli village, about 280 km from state capital Hyderabad.

In a statement, Satheesan said Reddy informed him that the police have already been directed to take strict action against those involved in the vandalism that took place on April 16. Satheesan said that a gang of Hindu right-wing attackers targeted the Mother Teresa School.

Videos of a group of persons wearing saffron clothes and chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’, pelting stones at the statue of Mother Teresa placed in front of the gate and breaking windows of the school, have gone viral. Referring to the footage of the violence widely circulated in the media and on social media, Satheesan said he spoke to the Telangana chief minister about the matter.

Mancherial district police said on Wednesday that they booked a case against the school correspondent and principal for allegedly objecting to some students coming to the institution wearing saffron clothes, instead of the school uniform, as they were observing ‘Hanuman Deeksha’.

According to Dandepally police, based on a complaint by the parents of the students, a case under sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race) and 295 (A) (insulting the religious feelings) was booked against the school officials on Tuesday.

The management of the Blessed Mother Teresa High School told PTI on Wednesday that two days ago, the principal asked the students to bring their parents to see him, after he noticed that they were wearing saffron attire instead of the school uniform.

Later, a group of people demanded an apology from the school management and some angry protestors vandalised the school and broke its windows on Tuesday, as seen in the video footage. The protestors also allegedly demanded an apology from the correspondent, the management said.