Bihar governor Phagu Chauhan has suspended 12 assistant professors of Rajendra College, Chapra, for dancing to Bollywood tunes and pop music with their family members and students at the institution’s annual day function, triggering charges of “moral policing”.
The governor chancellor of all state universities has also suspended principal Premendra Ranjan Singh, indicted by a probe for “cake-cutting” and “inserting item songs and dance” into an event held on the birth anniversary of India’s first President, Rajendra Prasad, after whom the college is named.
Chauhan, a former Uttar Pradesh BJP leader with roots in the RSS, has further suspended three professors of Jai Prakash University, to which Rajendra College is affiliated, on the charge of failing to carry out an “impartial” inquiry into the dance controversy and “giving benefits” to the dancing teachers. The trio were part of a probe committee formed by JPU vice-chancellor Faruque Ali.