Teachers of madrasas joined their counterparts of other educational institutions and people from different walks of life in Malda on Renaissance Man Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s bicentenary of birth at a rally against the recent harassment of 10 madrasa teachers of the district who were refused rooms at a Calcutta guest house because of their identity.

The rally organised by the CPM-backed All Bengal Teachers’ Association (ABTA), moved through the major roads of Malda, with the participants holding placards and banners in protest of the September 21 incident that occurred in Salt Lake.

‘Dhorme Noi Borne Porichoi’ (It is not religion but alphabets that determine one’s identity) was the theme of the protest rally. Borno Porichoi is also a primer written by Vidyasagar.

The ABTA leadership, sources said, also sent an e-mail to the chief secretary of the state, seeking exemplary punishment for those had denied accommodation to the teachers.

However, some of the madrasa teachers told The Telegraph that the scars had not healed.

A group of 10 madrasa teachers, who had been to Calcutta for some official work, had checked into a guest house in Salt Lake. They asked to leave after sometime. From there, they went to another guest house nearby. There too, they were denied accommodation. They eventually hired a vehicle and headed for Malda at night after getting their work done.

On Saturday, Moulvi Abdul Latif, the headmaster of Harischandrapur Kawamari Suraiya Madrasah Siksha Kendra, at the rally, saidthat the “discrimination on the basis of religion was beyond my imagination”.

“The denial was only because some of us had beards and because of our clothes…they (people at the guest house) did not hesitate to drive us away despite accepting a full tariff of Rs 3,600 for three rooms in the guest house,” he said.

“Would you believe that we were asked to vacate the rooms (in Salt Lake) because apparently local residents were not comfortable with our attire and look? We are not sure about the authenticity of the statement (the reason that was told to them) but it gave us deep pain,” Latif added.

Mahbubur Rahman, the headmaster of Alipur Madrasah Siksha Kendra, said his wife was so afraid that she did not want him to join the Saturday rally.

However, he was at the rally with some relatives who admitted they felt “insecure”.

Najibar Rahman, principal of Kaliachak College, said the incident conveyed a negative message to the minority community.

“Many ordinary people of the minority community have asked me if they would be getting safe accommodation in Calcutta or any of the cities in India after paying due tariff. Such is the level of fear that a peasant has decided not to take his brother to Calcutta for treatment. I had to spend a long time to assure him and arrange his journey and stay,” the principal said.