Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday showed signs of relenting on the issue of the “disciplinary action” against a Dalit school principal by the Education Department, allegedly for not being respectful to Education Minister PK Abdurabb of the Muslim league, during his visit to her school ten days back to inaugurate a function.
Chandy, who had on Wednesday taken a position that there was no question of revoking the transfer of the principal KK Urmila Devi from the Cotton Hill School in Thiruvananthapuram, told the State Assembly on Thursday that she could file an appeal if she had any complaint about the department’s action and that the Government was prepared to examine such an appeal.
The Chief Minister complained that there was an effort to add communal colour to the controversy over the principal’s transfer. Marxist legislator AK Balan had the other day said that Abdurabb acted against the principal like a man gone mad because of communal bias. Urmila Devi said that she was penalised because she was a Dalit.
Chandy’s statement came after Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan raised the issue in the House in the form of a point of order saying that Abdurabb had participated in the function at school in Thiruvananthapuram on June 16 violating the Speaker’s ruling that Ministers should not attend in any function outside when the House was in session.
Achuthanandan asked the Government why it had resorted to transferring the principal abruptly when she had been given 15 days to reply to a charge memo served on her. He alleged that she had been penalized for not being at the school gates to receive Abdurabb when she had actually left the spot to take some medicine. Urmila Devi is a cancer patient.
The Opposition staged a walkout in the Assembly in protest against the Government’s refusal to cancel Urmila Devi’s suspension. Deputy Opposition leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged that the Government had penalised the principal just because she was a Dalit. Pandemonium over the issue had forced the Speaker to adjourn the House for the day at noon Wednesday.
The principal was transferred to another school in Thiruvananthapuram district as Abdurabb had found the gates of her school closed when he reached there on June 16 hours behind schedule to inaugurate an award distribution ceremony. The teacher had complained that holding of such functions during class time was causing loss of study hours for the students.
Abdurabb’s party, the Muslim league, pledged total support for him over the issue. The party, second biggest constituent of the Congress-led ruling UDF, announced on Thursday that it would not allow the Opposition to attack the Minister in isolation. It also said that the efforts to communalise the issue were condemnable.
The Education Minister, however, continued to justify the department’s action against Urmila Devi saying that the transfer was not a punishment. He said that the department’s report on the principal’s conduct on June 16 had proposed her suspension but this was limited to a mere transfer out of humanitarian consideration.