When The Teachers Go Awry and Become Communal
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
01 April 2026
"A controversy has surfaced at PES University in Bengaluru after a professor was accused of making offensive and communal comments toward a Muslim student during a classroom session. The incident, which reportedly occurred earlier this week, has sparked widespread criticism after a video of the exchange circulated online.
According to reports, the episode began when a student, identified as Affan, asked for permission to briefly leave the class. The request allegedly led to a heated reaction from the faculty member, Muralidhar Deshpande, who was seen in the video raising his voice and using inappropriate language."
Courtesy NAI
The 'professor' ought to have been terminated. He doesn't deserve to be called a 'professor.' When the teachers, lecturers and professors start behaving in such an outright communal manner, the situation becomes all the more alarming. A teacher is a role model. So, when a teacher calls a student 'terrorist' on the basis of his faith, this lofty image gets severely dented. Nowadays, teachers are the main culprits. They nonchalantly pass casteist and communal comments in the classroom and single out a student because of his/her (different) faith or caste. Such unfortunate incidents have happened in MP, UP and Rajasthan. Muslims and Dalits have always been at the receiving end but in recent times, these occurrences have shot up. Guy Kawasaki said, “If you have to put someone on a pedestal, put teachers. They are society's heroes.” But can a teacher like Muralidhar Deshpande be called a hero? A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. Do such communal teachers influence their students in a positive way? On the contrary, they vitiate the minds of their students and fill them with rancour which doesn't go so easily. Will the Muslim student, Affan, ever forget this insult? Won't it rankle him? The intensity and bitterness of the experience can be diluted with the passage of time, but it can never be deleted from an individual's psyche. Teachers should understand this. They must also remember that they're not just teaching a subject. They're inculcating values and shaping up lives. Muralidhar Deshpande should be booted out forthwith to set a good precedent.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/when-teachers-go-awary-become-communal/d/139488
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