The management of Somaiya School in Mumbai’s Vidyavihar area asked its principal to resign after she was accused of posting about the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict as well as domestic politics on social media platform X, TNIE reported.
Identified as Parveen Shaikh, the principal was targeted by OPIndia, a right-wing media outlet that has often been accused of spreading misinformation and hate speech. It was alleged that her posts were pro-Palestine and sympathetic to Hamas.
Defending her views, Shaikh accused OPIndia of bias and unfair targeting, saying, “It has come to my attention that the platform raising these allegations and its supporters might be biased against constitutional principles. Their response seems to be a deliberate attempt to further their own prejudiced agenda and deliberately malign my image.”
She noted that teachers should be allowed to express their perceptions freely and that she was looking for all the ways available to address this matter in a way that “upholds the values of dignity and fairness.”
The OPIndia report titled “Special liking for Hamas, Umar Khalid, ‘liking’ anti-Hindu tweets and abusing PM Modi: Meet Parveen Shaikh, Principal of the prestigious Somaiya School, Mumbai,” attacked Shaikh for allegedly liking and reposting various posts on X and also for some of her own posts.
Meanwhile, the school wrote in a post on X, “We were unaware of the sentiments expressed until it was brought to our attention. We do not agree with such sentiments. It is certainly concerning. We are looking into the matter.”
The principal said that she was asked to resign by the management, and on April 26, she was told that her association with the institution was “no longer tenable.”
“I continued to work over the following days, but there was covert and overt pressure from management representatives to coerce me into resigning.”
She added that she has been working tirelessly for the school for the last 13 years, and “even the management does not want me to go, but they are under immense pressure.”
