Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday revoked the Jabalpur district administration’s order to suspend a school principal who called him a “daaku” (dacoit). Jabalpur Collector Chhavi Bharadwaj had suspended Mukesh Tiwari, the principal of the Kanishth Buniyadi Middle School, on Thursday after a Congress leader complained, The Indian Express reported.

The Congress leader made the complaint after a video of Tiwari speaking at a function at the school went viral. In the speech, Tiwari claimed that former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was “ours” while Nath is a dacoit. Bharadwaj had suspended Tiwari for violation of civil service conduct rules, News18 reported.

But Nath claimed on Saturday that he has always believed in freedom of speech. “His suspension must have been justified according to rules but at a personal level, I want to pardon him and don’t want any action against him,” Nath said. “A teacher’s job is to provide good education to students. I hope he would focus on his duties in future.”

The chief minister added that Tiwari must have “toiled hard” to become a principal, and that his family may be dependent on him. “He should reflect on whether what he said about a democratically-elected chief minister is true,” Nath added.