Professor Dinesh Gupta tries to the feet of an ABVP activist. (Source: The News/Youtube) Professor Dinesh Gupta tries to the feet of an ABVP activist. (Source: The News/Youtube)

A senior professor of a government college in Mandsaur has gone on leave after ABVP activists called him an “anti-national” when he asked them not to raise slogans outside his classroom and forced him to apologise.

Govt Rajiv Gandhi PG College principal Dr R K Sohoni said Dr Dinesh Gupta was teaching Wednesday when he heard ABVP activists raising slogans. The activists were on their way to submit a memorandum to the principal to protest delay in announcement of results of BSc fourth semester exams. Dr Gupta told them not to raise slogans as he was facing difficulty teaching due to the noise.

The activists called him an “anti-national” because he stopped them from saying Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai. They allegedly threatened to file a police complaint for his “unpatriotic” act and made him apologise too.

A video that emerged Thursday showed Dr Gupta, apparently upset, running after ABVP activists to touch their feet even as they try to stop him. On Thursday, he applied for leave, left home and switched off his phone. In another video, Dr Gupta is heard saying that he is more patriotic than ABVP activists and “will chant patriotic slogans not once but thousand times, but not at their instance.’’

Principal Sohoni said Dr Gupta was not at fault. He said Dr Gupta was upset over the developments and applied for a three-day leave because he felt humiliated.

ABVP activist Pawan Sharma said, “He could have stopped the class and let us pass.” He said Dr Gupta’s act of touching students’ feet was “a publicity stunt”. Sharma and other ABVP activists denied that they made Dr Gupta apologise but insisted that it was their right to raise patriotic slogans and anyone who stopped them risked being called “unpatriotic”.

Mandsaur MLA Yashpal Sisodiya said the incident was not as big as it was being made out to be. The BJP MLA said there is no video footage yet that proves that ABVP activists made Dr Gupta apologise. “I am trying to get the students to apologise if they are at fault. Or to get him (Dr Gupta) to pardon the students.’’

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