New Delhi: A Mumbai school principal has been asked to resign from her post after the Hindutva propaganda website OpIndia published an article questioning her political views based on her social media activity.
The site in an article said that Parveen Shaikh, principal of The Somaiya School in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar, ‘liked’ several tweets that were “pro-Hamas”, “anti-Hindu”, critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The article also accused her of being a sympathiser of Umar Khalid – who it described as an “Islamist” – and activist Sharjeel Usmani.
On April 26, two days after the article was published, the school management asked Shaikh to step down as the principal, Scroll reported. She has worked at the school for 12 years and has been the principal for seven of those.
“They expressed their disappointment with the content of the OpIndia article,” Shaikh told Scroll. “They have said [asking me to step down] was a tough decision for them to make, but this association cannot be continued.”
“The management acknowledges my hard work and contribution to shaping The Somaiya School. However, they said they were under immense pressure to take action against me. They have not specified grounds other than the OpIndia article,” she added.
However, Shaikh has no intention of resigning from the post.
While the OpIndia article has unleashed hate speech against Shaikh on X (Twitter), several parents spoke out in Shaikh’s support while 18 of them met with the president of the Somaiya Vidyavihar trust, Samir Somaiya, on Monday (April 29) to persuade him to roll back the management’s decision.
One of the parents who wrote to the school management in Shaikh’s support said that she has “promoted cultural harmony, tolerance and peace” in the institute and criticised attempts to label her as “anti-national”.
“I cannot think of any occasion where she has misled the community of students and the parents,” Preeti Gopalkrishnan said in her email.
“It is untenable that an extraordinary educator should be targeted in this way because she is a Muslim, and then be asked to leave,” said Shilpa Phadke, another parent.
Several parents found it preposterous that Shaikh has been asked to resign as a result of politically-motivated propaganda, Phadke added.
According to Scroll, the school spokesperson has neither confirmed nor denied the management’s decision. “We are looking into the matter,” the spokesperson said.
Shaikh told Scroll that the parent body has been immensely supportive by “negating the allegations made by the OpIndia article and vouching for my integrity, professionalism and my role in steering the school towards growth”.
