As the social media storm stemming from the allegations of sexual harassment made against a teacher of the PSBB Senior Secondary School began to build, Y G Madhuvanthi remained quiet and restrained for the most part - even as Twitter users trolled her endlessly, referring to it as 'her school' and linking it to her general political and religious stances. Madhuvanthi is State Executive Committee Member of the BJP.
Late Monday night, a video of hers was posted on a YouTube Chanel and she tweeted it tagging several people who had been involved in the issue - the sum total of her message was that she and her father Y Gee Mahendra were deeply concerned about the allegations and wanted justice to be served. She also clarified that though the school was founded by her grandmother Dr Y G Parthasarathy, she did not play any role in the administration of the school. "To all my trolls, you keep saying that this is my school. You're right. It is my school because I studied there. I don't run the school. Like me there are thousands of students who has studied there, passed out of there and continue to study there. It is all of ours. This is definitely a disgusting thing and the right legal action should be taken. There is no second thought about that either for me or my father."
In her message, she said, "A disgusting incident has come to my notice. A student has placed a strong allegation and complaint against a teacher in this school. The news reached me and my father, Y Gee Mahendra on Sunday night. My father is not part of the management, he doesn't run the school and he is one of the trustees. As soon as he got it, he sent off a very strong email at midnight to the Dean and Director and the management calling for strong action."
A major pain point for both of them was that this was tarnishing the name and legacy of the late Dr YGP, who founded the school and built it up, "My grandmother Mrs YGP created this great institution with blood, sweat and hard work and no harm should come to her legacy. If it does we will not be silent."
A lot of the social media chatter has extended to accusatory messages about the school's religious slant, something that she chose to address, "In this context, to bring in discussion along caste, community and religious lines - to point out whether one is a brahmin, non-brahmin, kshatriya, Vaidhya, sudra, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh - is bad politics. I must request the government also, whatever action you take must be correct and my family will support this fully. At this point, we have heard that the teacher has been suspended and we believe that this is the right step - as it will give students and parents confidence."
The news that the teacher had been arrested came shortly after. She added," "At the same time, let us not be swayed by the politics based on caste and religion played by fringe groups who have vested interests. This involves a girl's life so please take it seriously. The school management has to answer for this and I am certain they will, both as a granddaughter of Mrs YGP and as an alumni."
