UP Headmaster Suspended After VHP Complains of Iqbal's Iconic Song Sung in Assembly

'A headmaster of a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh has been suspended after Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers complained that he was making students recite a “religious prayer,” reported Indian Express. The “prayer” in question is the iconic Urdu poem Lab pe aati hai gua, also known as Bachche ki dua, which was written in 1902 by Muhammad Iqbal, who also wrote Saare jahaan se achchha. The poem is frequently sung in schools across India and deals with the subject of god guiding one from darkness to light. The VHP workers’ complaint against the Pilibhit headmaster Furqan Ali, led to a full blown inquiry by the Bilaspur block education officer Upendra Kumar, who found that the former was making students sing it in the morning assembly... Ironically, the poem in dispute is a part of the government prescribed Urdu syllabus and contains verses on contributing to the homeland...'