- A private school chairman in Kerala apologised for his controversial remark on Independence Day absentees
- He said students who missed celebrations should be sent to Pakistan, sparking backlash
- The chairman called absent students anti-national and threatened to bar them from classes
The chairman of a private school in Kerala's Thrissur has offered his apologies after he commented that students who skipped the school's Independence Day celebrations should be "sent to Pakistan."
His remarks had kicked up a massive controversy, with many pointing out that he could have used other words to engage with the students.
Raju Davis, chairman of Raju Davis International School in Mala, a town in Kerala's Thrissur district, said he "regretted it" if his words had offended anyone, adding he never meant to insult people.
Davis said all he wanted was for people to move ahead together.
The controversy began after a message posted by Davis in a WhatsApp group of parents surfaced on social media. The school had asked all students to attend the Independence Day celebrations, but some of them could not attend citing personal reasons and other urgent matters.
In his message, Davis reportedly called the students who stayed away from the celebrations "anti-national", and said those who stayed back at home "should go to Pakistan". He also warned that students who skipped the event won't be allowed to attend class.
Meanwhile, the BJP's youth wing, Yuva Morcha, burned effigies of Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan and Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah on Sunday in protest against not singing Vande Mataram in the southern state on Independence day.
BJP state general secretary S Suresh, who led the protest, said the chief minister was taking the same stand as the founder of Pakistan under pressure from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Jamaat-e-Islami.
The Kerala government had omitted the national song entirely during its official Independence Day function in Thiruvananthapuram. It chose to skip the recital altogether at its main state-level celebration rather than implement the full six-stanza version, diverging from compliance seen in some other Congress-ruled states.
