Dress diktat boomerangs on Trinamool Chhatra Parishad

KOLKATA: Wonder what Trinanool Congress has against sunglasses? The Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) union in Dum Dum’s Motijheel College issued a diktat last week banning this summer must-have along with short skirts, shorts and even caps.
After drawing flak from all corners, TMCP withdrew the circular on Monday. Anup Ghosh, assistant general secretary of the TMCP-led union said, “We only wanted to improve the ambience of our college.It is visually polluting to see students wearing short skirts, shorts or even Bermudas in classrooms. There needs to be decorum in an educational institution. Therefore we formulated a set of guidelines.”
Students are far from mollified. “It’s a matter of personal choice. It is not the concern of a student union to decide our clothes. We are mature and understand our responsibilities. We know the difference between decent and indecent dressing. Then why impose a ban? At best, they could have counseled students who do not wear appropriate clothes to college,” said a first year student. Another student said she disapproved of the diktat but did not speak up. “No one wants to face the wrath of the students’ union by commenting on such a delicate issue. We’d rather be busy with our examination,” she said.
Many of the guidelines issued by the union were reasonable — even laudable. For instance, the union reminded students that 75% attendance is mandatory to appear in exams and warned that it would not support those who failed this criterion. It asked for mandatory production of ID cards at the gate and barred students from sitting below the column dedicated to Vidyasagar. Smoking, spitting and playing cards are banned on campus and bicycles have to be kept at a designated spot. Rash driving by bikers won’t be tolerated, the union leaders said.
“But the dress diktat grabbed all the attention because it intruded into personal space. People did not see our good intentions," Ghosh added. But why the ban on caps too? “Sporting sunglasses or a hat on campus is disrespectful to the seniors,” he said.
Though the guidelines were issued in the name of general secretary Biki Pal, the other union members have taken collective responsibility. “We were all involved in taking the decision. We had also spoken to the teacher-in-charge and others,” Ghosh said. “Now, after facing so much resistance, we have withdrawn the list of dos and don’ts”
Teacher-in-charge Shukla Roy refused to comment. “I will not answer your questions,” she said. Education minister Bratya Basu said: “I have asked the higher education department to look into the matter and if necessary seek a report from the teacher-in-charge.”
Kolkata is no stranger to dress-code controversies. In 1993, Asutosh College principal had triggered a row when he tried to stop girls from wearing certain kinds of clothes on campus. And in 2010, Muralidhar Girls' College in Gariahat issued a notice banning ‘indecent clothes’ like tight-fitting jeans, short pants and capris.