Kolkata, Oct 12: In an unprecedented move, Jadavpur University’s officiating Vice Chancellor Buddhadeb Sau, Registrar Snehamanju Basu and other members of the Executive Council staged a 15-hour-long dharna on the institute’s campus to protest an incident of “unruly behaviour” by students. The officials of the university were seen performing their day-to-day duties from the protest site on a ground outside the administrative building Aurobindo Bhavan on Thursday after they commenced their stir late on Wednesday night.
In response to requests of various faculty members who expressed concern over their health condition, Sau, Basu and others ended their dharna around 7 pm on Thursday, after over 15 hours of launching their sit-in demonstration, Goutam Maity, senior teacher and EC member, said. English Department HoD Manojit Mondal, who is also an EC member, told PTI, “We had originally planned to end the ’satyagraha’ at 6 pm but the VC and other senior university officials said they would continue the stir. However, other teachers requested them to withdraw it citing their health and they agreed.” Maity said another EC meeting will be held but the date has not yet been fixed.
The dharna was staged after an alleged incident of sloganeering and verbal abuses by a section of students in the hallway of Aurobindo Bhavan outside the room where the Executive Council (EC) was discussing the matter of keeping hostels separate for freshers and seniors in the wake of the death of an undergraduate student due to ragging in August. The agitating students had demanded that they should have a say in the decision of shortlisting students for allotment to hostels, which the EC had not accepted. The meeting had to end mid-way on Wednesday evening due to the “unruly behaviour”, a university official said.
“We launched a ’satyagraha’ on the open ground in front of Aurobindo Bhavan in protest against the unruly behaviour of a section of the students. We had tried to reason with them but failed,” Sau had said. “I am discharging my responsibilities from here,” Sau had said, while signing a document sitting on the ground.
Subhankar Majumder, leader of the JU unit of Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)’s student wing which controls the arts union of the university, said that SFI will not take responsibility for the alleged misbehaviour of any individual student but condemns any such act. “The university authorities are not addressing our concerns about taking assertive steps to stop ragging at hostels and are dithering on the issue. They are not taking us in confidence. The satyagraha by the VC is part of diversionary tactics,” he alleged.
State Education Minister Bratya Basu deplored the incident of “unruly behaviour” by students. “We don’t have anything against peaceful student movements but we don’t support the conduct of some students against teachers. Use of abusive words against teachers is not justified,” he told reporters.
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