A primary school teacher in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district has been suspended after a video of him mimicking Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral. The footage showed Saket Purohit, who taught at a government school in the Pohri block, delivering a satirical monologue regarding the recent spike in LPG cylinder prices.
In the video, Purohit jokingly said that the increasing gas prices would prompt citizens to go back to the conventional use of wood stoves, which would "narrow the gap" between the rich and the poor. The video soon went viral, which prompted Preetam Lodhi, the local BJP MLA, to lodge a complaint against Purohit. Lodhi stated that this kind of mocking of the Prime Minister by a government employee was against the rules of conduct for government servants.
District Education Officer Vivek Srivastava confirmed the suspension late on Friday night, stating that an internal inquiry found Purohit's behaviour to be in direct contradiction to the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services Rules. Under the terms of his suspension, the teacher has been reassigned to a block office in Badarwas and will receive a subsistence allowance while the matter is further reviewed.
Purohit, however, has hit back at the decision, describing the administration's move as "one-sided." Speaking to reporters on Saturday, he claimed that he was never issued a show-cause notice nor given the chance to explain his side of the story. "Action taken without a hearing is simply not justified," he insisted, though for now, he remains barred from the classroom.
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