A Hindu man who was carrying out the responsibilities of the acting principal of a madrasa in Tangail has been removed from his post.
Gopal Chandra Basak, a senior teacher at the zoology department, was appointed the acting principal of the Darul Ulum Kamil Madrasa three days ago.
However, the madrasa committee on Thursday decided to remove him and reinstated the former acting principal Mowlana Shohrab Hossain to the post.
Moreover, all recruitment for the madrasa has been suspended.
The principal of the madrasa, Mowlana Abu Sayeed passed away in October 2020.
After that Shohrab Hossain was appointed the acting principal and he was running the madrasa.
In February 2022, the recruitment notice was given out for the appointment of a principal but eligible applications were not received.
Another notice was given out on August 30. On September 12, Shohrab Hossain resigned to apply for the post of principal after which Gopal Chandra Basak was made the acting principal owing to his seniority.
Gopal Chandra Basak told Dhaka Tribune that he joined as a lecturer in 1991 when Mowlana Abu Sayeed was the principal.
“When the post of the acting principal fell vacant, I was appointed the acting principal,” he said.
He added that he was appointed following proper procedure.
According to sources, the madrasa committee had selected Assistant Professor Anwarul Habib on Thursday to fill in Basak’s post but changed their mind on Friday morning.
Even though no protests were seen in Tangail following Basak’s appointment, political party Islami Andolan demanded his removal.
They said that the appointment of a Hindu teacher as acting principal is equivalent to hurting religious sentiments.
The party termed it a conspiracy to destroy the madrasa system in the country.
Meanwhile, madrasa committee President Kudrat-e-Elahi said that Gopal Chandra Basak was not appointed as the acting principal and all recruitment has been halted.
However, Deputy Commissioner Ataul Gani said that Basak was removed so as to not hurt religious sentiments.
