Bengal governor placates protesting students

Thousands of students, who had sat down on the streets on Saturday demanding the resignation of Abhijit Chakrabarty, the vice-chancellor (VC) of Jadavpur University (JU), withdrew their demonstration after Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi assured them that he would look into the matter.

The governor welcomed an eight-member delegation of JU students for a meeting that lasted for an hour and 20 minutes, where the agitating students presented their case and sought his intervention as the ex-officio chancellor of all state universities.

After coming out of the meeting, the delegation announced that the governor had asked for two days to look into the matter. 

They also claimed that Tripathi gave his moral support to the movement. The students withdrew their demonstration following the assurance, but said their movement would continue.

Tripathi later told reporters: “You know better what is going on there, who is responsible for this.” 

Earlier in the day, students from various universities and colleges from across Kolkata had gathered at Mayo Road in central Kolkata to protest. 

They took out a rally at 2 pm from the state-run cultural hub of Nandan, and had planned to walk all the way to Raj Bhavan, around 4 km away, but were stopped by the police on Mayo Road. The students sat down right there, despite torrential rain, and raised slogans against the JU VC, pro-VC and registrar, demanding that all three resign.

Sports across country

The protests garnered support from across the country, with similar rallies being held in other cities like Delhi and Mumbai in solidarity with JU students. One such massive rally is set to take place in Bangalore on Sunday. 

Most of these rallies are being spearheaded by JU alumni living in other cities. The agitators in Kolkata also sought a fresh inquiry into the complaint of molestation at JU campus last month, which became the flashpoint for the protests.

JU students have also been boycotting classes in demand of resignation of the VC resignation after the police beat several of them late on September 17 night, when they were protesting outside the VC’s office. The crackdown has been widely condemned. 

While students hold the VC responsible for calling the police into the campus, varsity authorities maintain that there was nothing wrong with it. The VC has ruled out any chance of resigning.