West Bengal: Campus and Politics

Few outside West Bengal can even imagine this: one of the bIt was regarding students appraisal deadline finished,they were asked to leave campusggest killers in this state is politics! West Bengal has earned the dubious distinction of recording the highest number of political murders in the country, the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) report points out. The State recorded 26 political murders in 2013, which is more than 25% of the 101 cases in the entire country during the period. West Bengal emerges as perhaps the most politically intolerant state in the country.

The history of political violence in West Bengal is divided into two phases—pre- and post-1977. Before 1977, it was the State machinery that was used almost exclusively by the ruling Congress to tackle the Opposition. Congressmen, generally, didn’t get involved much in attacking or killing CPM workers or Naxals. But after 1977, it was the CPM cadres, who started driving out the opposition and snuffing out dissent from all fora. We have already written about annihilation by CPM in our previous two articles – West Bengal Politics: BloodStained Names I and West Bengal Politics: Blood Stained Names II.

Violence has been part of West Bengal’s campuses since the time the CPM-backed SFI dominated the unions. Many educationists say it is a reflection the extreme politicisation of the setup. What is happening now is an extension of what had happened during the Left Front regime.

Even today, if you ask a Left leader about the necessity of politicisation of Student Unions, they will come up with their 2 pointers

A. If a person can vote at the age of 18 they have every right to do it.

B. It acts as an indicator what is going to happen in near future as students’ movement later gets mass support and becomes mass movement.

Well, the first point is a debatable; we can write an entire article on it later. For the second point let us go through few figures. CPM-led SFI had been dominating college unions for decades. The slide began when 2009-10 when it could win only 260 of 413 college unions, down from 335 of 424 in 2008-09. Mamata Banerjee uprooted 34 years Left Front regime in 2011. Yes it acts as an indicator!

So what else the following event indicates:

- Student was beaten to death at Sajanikanta Mahavidyalaya in Sabong, West Bengal. The third-year student was beaten to death inside a room in the college.

- Students at a Nadia school had slapped a teacher over a dispute over mark sheets.

- In 2012 when a policeman was shot dead at Harimohan Ghosh College in Garden Reach on Kolkata’s outskirts.

- In January 2012, a section of INTTUC and TMCP members raided Raiganj College and beat up the then principal of Raiganj college Dr Dilip Dey Sarkar after dragging him from his chamber. (What INTTUC had to do in a College?)

- In August 2013, TMCP members allegedly physically assaulted three teachers, including the Principal Dr Swapna Mukharjee, in Meghnad Saha College in Itahar of North Dinajpur district today.

- In August 2013, An MA second-year student of Rabindra Bharati University had lodged a complaint with Sinthi police station that she was molested while waiting for transport outside the university’s BT Road campus. She was dragged into a room on the campus, assaulted and molested. They also snatched money from her wallet and the ornaments she was wearing.

Frequent campus violence, mass copying, irregularities in admission procedures, frequent student protests over trivial matters are plaguing West Bengal's once-reputed educational institutions that have at one time produced some of India's best known faces, both leaders and scholars.

One of the state's prestigious institutions, Jadavpur University, remained the epicentre of a massive student agitation that led to the unprecedented step of its Vice Chancellor being asked to step down by none other than Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when she made an unannounced visit to the university.

Hok Kolorob – The students' movement, that had widespread resonance with many of the Jadavpur University alumnui across the globe expressing solidarity, had its roots in a demand by students for an independent probe into the alleged molestation of a female pupil. A subsequent "violent" police crackdown on the agitating students gradually snowballed, resulting in Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti stepping down in the face of what he called an "undemocratic" and "unconstitutional" stir initiated by "politically-affiliated".

We are strongly against policemen entering Campus and feel the VC Chakrabarti could have managed the issue in a better way had he constituted a panel according to Vishakha Guidelines of the Supreme Court. Ironically, Chakrabarti's predecessor Souvik Bhattacharya had put in his papers citing personal reasons barely a month after he was confined for more than 50 hours by students demanding the reinstatement of two students suspended on charges of ragging!!

On 21^st August 2015, trouble started in Presidency College when Chief Minister entered the campus to attend a function. She was greeted with slogans and black flags by a section of students. According to students, they wanted to talk to the chief minister seeking punishment to those responsible for ransacking of heritage Baker Laboratory of the varsity during a 2013 incident but were not allowed to talk to her.

Following allegations of police assault on students protesting during Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to the campus on Friday, a section of the students gheraoed the VC demanding her resignation. Presidency University vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia remained under gherao by protesting students since Friday evening, the gherao went on the whole night as students refused to let Lohia leave her office room which was filled with anti-administration slogans and posters. Walls and even her nameplate outside the room was vandalised by the students. During the night, registrar and other senior officials of the university were also present along with Lohia.

Protester at
Presidency Campus 

General Secretary of the students union told, “It is not just about the Chief Minister’s visit yesterday and the following police assault on our students but the VC has failed on a number of accounts in the past also. So we have decided to not let her leave the campus till she resigns.”

The gherao threw shadow over the state-run varsity’s third convocation ceremony scheduled 22^nd August 2015 evening. Many of the students have called for a boycott of the convocation.

The picture of the protester given clearly indicates that he is not a protester but he is only an attention seeker!! Does wearing inner wears only have anything to do with the protest?

The boycott call given by a section of protesting students failed to cast shadow over the convocation ceremony which was attended by students in large numbers. The mood at the university campus was divided as many students shouted 'We want convocation' while others raised slogans demanding the VC's resignation.

A couple of hours before the convocation, the VC was escorted by teachers from her office to the function hall on the other end of the sprawling campus. The convocation was attended by Governor K N Tripathi, who is also the chancellor of the university. During her convocation speech, Lohia referred to the agitation saying every challenge is an opportunity. "My faculty and students stood by me and made sure that nothing marred the convocation. Thank you faculty, thank you students," she said.

After Convocation, Lohia left the campus. "We had decided to allow her leave the campus since she has been feeling unwell, but our protests will continue. We will continue to occupy the office till she resigns," according to General Secretary of the students union. Lohia told, “The ones who are protesting are a very small group but very loud.”

Let us see what else we have in store!! TMC is criticising the protest in Presidency University Campus whereas West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will send a three-member delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs to express solidarity with the students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. The delegation consisting Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O`Brien and Satabdi Roy will visit FTII on Monday.

The FTII students are on a strike as the students who failed to submit appraisal within deadline were asked to leave the campus. Academic activity at the FTII is at a standstill.