‘I’ll keep calling a thief a thief’: Uttarakhand teacher after row with the Chief Minister

A day after she was briefly detained and suspended after she confronted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat during a “Janata Durbar” on Thursday, school principal Uttara Bahuguna broke down during a video interview with ANI, saying she was being victimised by corrupt officials.

Bahuguna had requested the Chief Minister that she be transferred from the remote location. Her claim was that she had been posted in remote locations for the last 25 years and she now wanted to live with her children after the passing away of her husband.

On being asked by Rawat if she had given any undertaking while securing the job, Bahuguna shot back that she had not stated "she will live in forest throughout her life".

"My condition is such that neither can I leave my children alone nor my job," said Bahuguna. After the incident, Rawat said that request for transfers must not be brought to a platform meant for hearing public grievances. “All transfers of government employees will be done under the state's Transfer Act,” he said.

Bahuguna told the Indian Express that while she had “no problem” with her job, she has consistently been posted in remote areas for more than two decades. “Before being at Uttarkashi village, I was posted in a remote area in Uttarkashi district’s Chinyalisaur. My husband used to take care of my two children, but after his death in August last year, there is no one to take care of my children. Also, I am too old to work in remote areas.”

Talking to ANI, she complained that the Chief Minister talked down to her. “Am I not a respectable person? My husband has passed away. I don’t have brothers. There is no one on my side to support me,” she lamented, asking, “If a Chief Minister can talk to a teacher in an indecent way, then why a teacher can’t reply in the same way?”

“I am performing my duty in an honest and disciplined way. I raised my voice when they tried to drag me into corruption. Why would I not raise my voice. I’ll keep calling a thief a thief,” she said resolutely, adding that “only those employees who are honest are at the receiving end of the current government.”

Meanwhile, former chief minister Harish Rawat has condemned the arrest of the school teacher and demanded a revoke on her suspension.