Protests in BHU against hiring of a Muslim Sanskrit professor speak of dismal times

The protesters know that the selection committee could not possibly have said that even though Khan was the best candidate for the position, he should not be offered the job due to communal considerations. If the selected candidate was, say, European, nobody would probably have raised any objection.

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In an earlier era, access to Sanskrit was severally restricted. Sacred texts were the preserve of select Brahmin groups, while classical Sanskrit could be taught to upper-caste Hindus.

It is a measure of the hatefulness and narrow-mindedness that has come to permeate the national atmosphere that the appointment of a young Muslim Sanskrit scholar, Firoz Khan, as an assistant professor in the literature department of the Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vijnan at Banaras Hindu University has brought forth protests from his to-be colleagues as well as the department’s PhD students, demanding a cancellation of the appointment.