Siddaramaiah-Qamar ul Islam spat overshadows nursing student case

It is business as usual for former Karnataka minorites welfare minister Qamar ul Islam. His career, his supporters in his constituency Gulbarga (North) in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region say, has been pushed into ‘political ICU’ by chief minister Siddaramaiah. Not for a moment do the former minister or his cronies think about the life of the 18-year-old nursing student from Malappuram in Kerala, who is in the ICU of the Kozhikode general hospital, after having been allegedly forced to drink a phenyl-based toilet cleaner, which burnt her food pipe and damaged internal organs.

Why 68-year-old Qamar should be bothered is because she is a student at the Al Qamar Nursing College in Gulbarga (Kalburgi), one of the 13 educational institutions — engineering, medical, nursing and polytechnics — owned by Qamar. Till the story broke four days ago, Qamar was not even aware — or that is what he now claims — that she was a victim of ragging at the college hostel. He says he was only told by the principal of the college that a student had been admitted to hospital. Qamar has not bothered to even visit the college since the details of the horrific incident came to light, leave alone taking action against those who are meant to ensure ragging does not take place.

But wait, for Qamar too is crying victimhood.

That he too has been ‘ragged’ by seniors Siddaramaiah and Leader of Congress Party in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge. That just because Kharge Sr wanted Kharge Jr as minister in Karnataka, Qamar was sacrificed, as both are from the same district. If Qamar has his way, Siddaramaiah will pay for what he has done.

What about Qamar?

The 14-year-old nursing college that is run by the Congress senior politician has no anti-ragging cell on its premises. At the hostel, till yesterday there were no anti-ragging posters. When the police team visited the hostel on Friday, every wall had a poster, with handwritten anti-ragging slogans to show everything was hunky-dory.

Unlike Qamar, who is a six-time MLA and has been an MP before, the student’s family is at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Her father abandoned the family soon after she was born. A daily wager, the single mother brought up her two daughters, took a Rs 3 lakh loan for this girl to send her to Al Qamar Nursing college.

For the last five months, the Dalit girl was allegedly subjected to systematic verbal and physical abuse by senior students. It is shocking that the college had no system to find out from hostel wardens or other students, what was happening. In a complaint to the police, the BSc nursing student, who happens to be a Dalit, says she was forced to drink the toxic substance on 9 May. The girl needs emergency surgery, but she is too fragile now to be operated upon. Alone in the ICU, she is fighting a tough, lonely battle. Just like she was, all these months, against her seniors.

The police is upset that the college did not inform it about the case. Under UGC guidelines, even if it is an attempt to commit suicide, as the college and the seniors initially claimed it was, the police should be informed. The girl’s relatives have also claimed that the college management tried to hush up the case and that they were warned to keep quiet.

The Al Qamar Nursing College has 200 students. But in recent years, the number of students from Kerala taking admission has reduced, says MM Baig, the college administrator. So the college canvasses through agents in towns in Kerala to attract students to take admission. The four-year nursing course costs Rs 1.85 lakh.

“The surgery is done and the body is damaged,” said Qamar. But he is talking about the fate of Congress politicians like him who have been dumped during the reshuffle. To Qamar, his political future is more important. So he has called for a Gulbarga bandh on Saturday to show his muscle power. That his followers can bring life in the district to a halt, such is his clout and power.

The Kerala government has promised to take care of the medical expenditure incurred on the girl but Qamar and Siddaramaiah are busy stoking the political fires.

Nursing is a much sought-after profession in Kerala. India, its higher education system and a private college owned by a politician have failed to help a young girl, who came to Gulbarga, to realise her dream of becoming a Florence Nightingale.

“The surgeon who did this bad surgery will be changed after the elections,” predicted Qamar.

He, of course, is talking about Siddaramaiah, but it’s high time India changed some of its political surgeons too.