The annual school magazine of Krishna Public School at Bhilai, with its branch in the Chattisgarh capital Raipur has published an imaginary picture of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless and greet him). This has outraged the Muslim community in both the cities. The parents and guardians of Muslim students have asked the principal of the school to immediately apologise to the Muslims and withdraw the copies of the magazine. The local politicians have also spoken to school authorities in this regard. However, the school administration seems to be in no mood of relenting. Even after protests by the Muslims the school distributed the copies of the magazine the next day at its branch at Raipur. According to the reports the picture depicts a clean shaven youthful character sporting a green turban and calligraphy of Huwa Allaho La Ilaha Illa Hu. The caption, in English, of the photo reads, “The Founder of Islam (Hazrat) Muhammad Bin ‘Abdullah was born in Mekkah in 570 A.D. where is situated an important place of worship K’aba. He preached unity of God. This new religion was called Islam and its followers are known as Muslims.” This has immensely infuriated the Muslims. They have spoken to the Principal of the school Mr. Anand Kumar Tripathy and Director M.M. Tripathy and informed them that the publication of the photo of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless and greet him) had angered the Muslims. Therefore, it would be better to delete the image from the magazine because Islam does not permit photo of any living object let alone of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless and greet him).
The local MLA Badruddin Qureishi has warned the Director of the School M.M. Tripathy that if the ignorance of the Editor of the Magazine Somdatta and Designer Rashi Tripathy is responsible for such a blunder then the Director should himself immediately apologise to the students of the school and tell them that Islam does not permit picture, real or imaginary, of any living object. Raipur MLA Mohammad Akbar has demanded from the state government to withdraw the copies of the magazine with immediate effect because it had hurt the sentiments of the minority community and thus pose a danger to law and order. Out of the 800 hundred students studying at the KPS some three to four dozens are Muslims. The Director of the School M .M. Tripathy and the Principal Anand Kumar Triapathy hail from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and are ideologically inclined towards the BJP. They are considered close to the Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh.