Unacademy teacher asked students to vote for educated leaders, and all hell broke loose
Unacademy teacher Karan Sangwan was criticized on X, for his comments during one of his sessions.
Online education platform Unacademy teacher Karan Sangwan perhaps never thought in his wildest dreams that his comments would lead to a massive outburst on social media.
What happened
The LLM Criminal Laws tutor, during one of his sessions with the students, spoke to them about who to vote for.
- Sangwan asked students to never vote for illiterate politicians. “Aise insaan ko chune jo padha likha ho, jo samajh sake cheezon ko. Sirf aise insan ko na chune jinko sirf naam badalna aata ho, naam change karna aata ho (Elect someone who is educated, who understands things. Don’t elect someone who can only change names). Make your decision properly.”
What is meaning of Pada likha Munna?
— Gaurav Pradhan 🇮🇳 (@OfficeOfDGP) August 13, 2023
Video of a teacher Karan Sangwan from @unacademy telling student not to vote for an uneducated person (Modi and BJP) next time as uneducated ones only change laws and names. All his notes on laws are now worthless. pic.twitter.com/yqlcOmkzic
His comments seemed directed towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments, who have changed names of states and places in recent times. Sangwan’s comments certainly didn’t go down well with the supporters of the BJP, and they started a trend against Unacademy.
Why the comment
Sangwan was apparently discussing the latest Bill tabled in Lok Sabha by the BJP-led Union government to replace the British era IPC, CrPC and the Indian evidence act. He lamented that all the notes he had prepared on criminal laws have now become worthless.
He started by saying, “Lekin ek cheez yaad rakhna, agli baar jab apna vote do toh kisi padhe likhe insaan ko vote dena. Next time yaad rakhiyega. Aise insaan ko chuniyega jo cheezon ko samjhe (Remember this: the next time you vote, choose an educated person, the one who understands things. Don’t go for ones who only know how to change names.)
Backlash and support on social media
On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), many people have lashed out at Sangwan for his take. Here are a few reactions:
1.
Meet Karan Sangwan, an @unacademy tutor
— Mikku 🐼 (@effucktivehumor) August 13, 2023
He is encouraging his students in his online class to vote against the BJP because he's too lazy to prepare notes on the new law reform. He'll miss his weekend fun and partying because he has to make notes on these reforms to teach his… pic.twitter.com/MNwyyMOoSg
2.
"Teaching Or Propaganda" ?
— THE INTREPID 🇮🇳 (@Theintrepid_) August 13, 2023
Unacademy Law Teacher 'Karan Sangwan' is urging his students to never vote for the current government (BJP) again.
Instead of welcoming reforms in laws, such teachers never leave a chance to peddle their personal ideology in the garb of education.… pic.twitter.com/879EBjsSkq
3.
Karan Sangwan : Dont Vote for illiterate BJP in Future..
— Rohit_Live (@Rohit_Live007) August 13, 2023
Student : But why sir?
Karan : They have made changes to the entire IPC and Crpc
Student : Sir, its the job of every govt to bring laws, are you saying if Congress comes they wont make any new laws?
Karan : But why did…
4.
Came across this commentary on the 'new' law code bills by educator Karan Sangwan (whose short clip has been doing the rounds). It was cool to see him use plagiarism software to show that the 'new' 'decolonized' bills r largely the same as the old ones...https://t.co/g2cMjr9Usr pic.twitter.com/mWIXDvSrBz
— Kiran Kumbhar (@kikumbhar) August 13, 2023
However, there was also a group of people who supported Sangwan for his views. Here are few reactions in support of Sangwan:
1.
Sequence of Events :
— Roshan Rai (@RoshanKrRaii) August 13, 2023
An UnAcademy Law educator Karan Sangwan without naming anyone urged his students to vote for educated politicians.
The BJP IT cell assumed it was their supreme leader and started outraging and abusing Karan.
Now As per sources, UnAcademy is likely to…
2.
Please beware of the distorted propaganda circulated against Karan Sangwan. Here is another clip from the same video, clearly exposing the malicious allegations made against him. pic.twitter.com/nYmtVFkK8j
— Mohammad Adil Ansari (@adilsaurus) August 13, 2023
3.
To bhakts, both under IPC Section 499 and Section 354 of the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023, Karan Sangwan has the right to make a comment as to his opinion over any public bill as well as the the character of its maker. Kindly do watch his videos to learn the Indian law pic.twitter.com/UNq2h7Qp3s
— Mohammad Adil Ansari (@adilsaurus) August 13, 2023
Unacademy has yet to respond to the controversy.