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Panikkar moots democratic structure for public-funded private institutions
KOCHI: K.N. Panikkar, academic and Kerala State Higher Education Council vice-chairman, says that the decision of the management of Newman College, Thodupuzha, to dismiss T.J. Joseph from service has once again proved that it is high time the managements of public-funded private institutions were brought under a democratic structure.
Dr. Panikkar says such a decision cannot be expected from those who have taken up the responsibility of imparting education to the people. The authorities of Newman College, where Mr. Joseph taught for 27 years, seem to have taken the hasty step in the name of communal harmony and secularism.
“Unfortunately, they did not realise that the greatest threat to secularism and communal harmony is religious fundamentalism. That is why the management offered to withdraw the dismissal order if the Muslim community made an appeal, thus attributing to it a distinctly communal character. In fact, what they did would only help to strengthen fundamentalist forces and not reinforce secularism, as claimed by the college authorities,” Dr. Panikkar says in an e-mail message to The Hindu here on Tuesday.
The management should have stood by Mr. Joseph and defended his academic freedom, Dr. Panikkar says adding “instead what they did was to compromise with fundamentalism and extend to it a helping hand.”
“That fundamentalists indulge in such irrational behaviour is understandable. They still live in medieval times without any respect for human values. Whether he is reinstated or not, Joseph would be soon forgotten. But the trauma he experienced should serve as a warning so that the brutality of fundamentalists and the irresponsibility of educational entrepreneurs do not swamp society,” Dr. Panikkar says.
Pointing out that the incident raises a variety of issues regarding the state of religious consciousness, academic freedom and management of education, Dr. Panikkar says Mr. Joseph had lost his limb to religious fundamentalism and his job to an insensitive and opportunistic college management.
“Both are highly deplorable, which unfortunately has not attracted sufficiently strong reaction from the public.
“It appears that there is an ambiguity in the public mind about Joseph's own role, as he is blamed for injuring religious sentiments. It is perhaps the reason why, except teachers and students organisations, many have not come forward to his defence,” he said.
Describing that the ‘crime' Mr. Joseph committed is to frame a question reproducing a conversation between God and Muhammad from a text written by a believer and filmmaker, P.T. Kunhumuhammod, Dr. Panikkar says the ‘mistake' he made was to change the character of a lunatic in the original to Muhammad, whom a fundamentalist group interpreted as the Prophet and took revenge by imposing the medieval Islamic punishment of cutting off of the hand of the teacher.
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