He spoke to HERALD on why the situation went totally out of control
Herald: How do you react to the Rivona school
incident? Will you call it an injustice?
MLA: It was pretty sad to hear about the entire incident.
I have great concern for the HIV positive children.
They are innocent creatures of God. They are not
guilty that they should not be punished by society. But
unfortunately they are facing all discrimination for no
fault of theirs. The entire village has now has identified
those HIV positive children. They are completely
discriminated against.
Herald: Where and what went wrong, given that
the incident went out of government and school
management control?
MLA: Rivona is not an urbanized area so I feel that
parents cannot be fully blamed for it. There were some
factors that influenced parents and others; especially
local political bodies and one medical practitioner.
They told
parents that
the disease is
transmissible
and their child
will be at risk
if allowed to
sit next to the
HIV positive
child. Parents
were fully
convinced as
he is a medical
expert and hence they would not listen to either the
government or the management.
Herald: Has the issue been politicized?
MLA: Yes, my political opponents, zilla panchayat
members and some new entities in politics also jumped
into the controversy, further brain washing the parents,
and taking the situation completely out of control. They
tried to use this incident as an opportunity to garner
support from parents and villagers in the political
journey.
Herald: Why did government or school fail to convince
the parents?
MLA: I told you, parents were completely brain washed,
and were not willing to listen. I tried to convince
around 40 percent of parents and as result you see their
children are still studying in that school.
Herald: Did parents approach you? What was their
demand?
MLA: Yes, they did approach me with a request that I
should support them in their decision to withdraw their
kids from the school, to which I said no. I told them that
those kids cannot be discriminated against as they are
equal and have similar rights like other children. I said
that if they (parents) want I will put my child in the same
school and make her sit next to a HIV positive child.
I’m aware that even identifying such children is illegal
but I’m making a point. Trust me I have taken my wife
consent too on the issue.
I told the parents that these kids
cannot be discriminated against as
they are equal and have similar rights
like other children. I said that if they
(parents) want I will put my child in
the same school and make her seat
next to the HIV positive kid. Trust
me, I have taken my wife consent too
on the issue.
