Identity war in Bengal! Hindutva vs Bengali sub-nationalism? Experts debate

India Today

6 days ago

In this episode of 5Live, the focus is on the death of a 20-year-old student in Balasore, Odisha, which has sparked massive outrage. The student, who died by self-immolation after suffering 96% burns, had filed multiple complaints of sexual harassment against a professor at Akhir Mohan University. Her pleas for justice to the college principal and other authorities were repeatedly ignored. Her father has called the death a murder, stating, 'When my daughter died, he didn't die, he was killed.' The incident has led to widespread protests across Odisha, with opposition parties calling for a Bandh. Following the outcry, the accused professor and the college principal have been arrested. The program also covers other major news, including Mamata Banerjee's 'Bengali pride' march and the escalating war of words between the government and the opposition over India's foreign policy. Additionally, significant changes to NCERT's Class 8 social science textbooks are discussed, detailing religious intolerance during the Mughal period. The revisions describe rulers like Babur as brutal and note Aurangzeb's demolition of temples, while adding a disclaimer that 'no one should be held responsible today for events of the past.' The programme also covers the escalating language war in Maharashtra, where Minister Nitish Rane suggested Azaan be recited in Marathi in Madrasas. In another major development, the alleged mastermind of a conversion racket, Changur Baba, has given his first reaction, stating, 'I am innocent. I don't know anything.' Further reports include the demolition of Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Bangladesh and Uttarakhand's move to include the Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana in the school syllabus.