Hindu bus conductor fired for helping Muslim passengers: Does it reflect an increasingly polarised India?
Religious tensions are simmering in India in the run-up to 2024 general election. Read more at straitstimes.com.
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It's behind a pay wall. What happened?
Mohit, who was a conductor in UP Roadways was suspended earlier this year, for allegedly halting a Delhi-bound bus for two passengers to offer Namaz. The UPSRTC staff and his co-driver, a contractual staff, were suspended on June 5 for halting ‘Janrath’, an air-conditioned bus headed to Kaushambi from Bareilly.
do read - https://monyet.cc/comment/4068760
Thanks.
Also, oof. That's sad.
I mean, should abruptly halting public services for the whims of two passengers be tolerated really? What the fuck is the department supposed to do, delay the buses and just ask the working passengers with time commitments to fuck off every time someone in the bus wants to pray?
Looking it up - Kaushambi to Bareilly, the route the bus was on, is a 5 hour drive. We're not talking about city buses with 2 minutes between each stop. Long distance routes like that generally give the driver the discretion to decide where and when to stop for toilet breaks, etc. Nobody is going to object to a break of a few minutes.
In other words, this would have been a perfectly normal rest break if not for the religious aspect. So no, the editors are not wrong.
There are designated rest breaks in those long drives. They could have completed their Namaz during those if they wanted, like everyone else. Muslims have leeway of time during situations like these, those two were very likely just entitled. Stopping an entire bus is not justified.
There are designated rest breaks in those long drives
Source? Because my personal experience says otherwise.
those two were very likely just entitled
Do you have any reason to think so, or are you just wildly speculating? You don't even know if they made a fuss, or just very nicely asked if the driver could align the rest break with their prayer time.
Really? A bus you were on didn't stop once in a 5-hour drive in your experience?
My reason to think so is Occam's Razor. Asshole passengers are much, much more probable than an official abruptly deciding to fire a bus conductor just because he stopped the bus for a Muslim's prayers. It's idiotic and only people who have never truly lived in India can make such assertions.
Really? A bus you were on didn’t stop once in a 5-hour drive in your experience?
That's not what I said. I said the driver has discretion over where and when to stop during the drive. You're the one claiming otherwise.
Occam’s Razor
So you pulled it out of your ass, got it. I love how you dispute the article on the basis of 'it's more probable'. Who cares about facts, eh?
only people who have never truly lived in India can make such assertions.
That's funny, seeing as the article was written by Indians.