At a time when students of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) had raised objections over the appointment of a Muslim for teaching Sanskrit, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira at Belur Math here appointed Ramzan Ali as Sanskrit professor.
Ali, who joined the Sanskrit department on Tuesday told : "On November 13, Principal Swami Shastrajnandaji Maharaj called me and said that my religious identity is not important and what matters the most is my command over the language."
Commenting on BHU's incident, he said: "Sanskrit reflects India's culture. BHU incident is an exception, but our country is huge. So, such incidents don't speak for the whole country."
"I have never faced any sort of discrimination either from my community or others because I've chosen Sanksrit as my subject. I receive immense support from people," he added.
Further, he said: "When I reached here, the Principal and my colleagues arranged food and accommodation for me. They have always been encouraging and even for a moment, I didn't feel that I am new to this place."
Ali said that he has been learning Sanskrit since class VII and he chose Sanskrit as a subject because it enthrals him.
Shukram Nireti, a BA second-year student, said: "This is his first class with us and we have just started to learn from him. I don't think anyone is going to treat him differently because he belongs to the Muslim community."
"It is his greatness that he chose to teach Sanskrit. It shows that he respects the language and Hinduism a lot. We are here to learn as much as we can from our teachers," the student added.
( With inputs from ANI )