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Wiped Out Whiteboards
Protests against the Manipur University VC spiral out of control
by Chaoba Paojel in Imphal
M
ANIPUR University is in shutdown
for the last several weeks as stude
nts and teachers demand the ous
ter of vice chancellor Adya Prasad Pandey.
The Manipur University Students’ Union
(MUSU), which is spearheading the agita
tion since May 30, has claimed that since
Pandey assumed office in October 2016,
gross mismanagement in academic and
administrative fields have affected stu
dents and staff. The Manipur University
Teachers Association (MUTA) and Manipur
University Staff Association (MUSA) are
supporting the demand; six deans and all 32
heads of department have resigned.
MUSU’s charges agai nst Pandey include
financial and administrative irregularities,
frequent absenteeism and a violation of
Section 22 of the Manipur University Act,
2005, which makes it mandatory to assess
the current financial year’s performance and
prepare annual objectives for the future.
On June 24, Pandey clarified: “I will not
tender my resignation. I am here to serve the
university”. He also dismissed the allegati
ons as false. Amar Yumnam, HoD, Economics,
says that repeated warnings to Pandey have
failed and that teachers were left with no
other option. “Since the agitation has not
resulted in an appropriate response, the
HoDs had to join the general demand”, he
says. The students and teaching community
Manipur University students take
out a protest rally
sity? What appeared to be an internal the infiltration has become brazen.”
As an instance, Mishra points out that
tussle was merely the unlovely facade of
for the first time ever, the chairman of the
an insidious political game.
Explaining the circumstances that alleg- state’s higher education council is not an
edly led to the EC decision, Om Prakash academic, but the education minister
Mishra, a professor of international rela- himself. “To further infiltrate the institu-
tions at JU and a Congress spokesperson, tions, the government is trying to weaken
told Outlook, “Weeks back, state educa- the admissions process so that TMC party
tion minister Partha Chatterjee had said members can pour in unchecked. And the
that while he was happy with the way most EC, instead of acting as the administration
educational institutions functioned, he of an autonomous institution, is letting
found two universities problematic; one itself be dictated to by the state govern-
ment,” he adds heatedly.
of these was Jadavpur University.”
Other opposition parties also didn’t
Mishra says these observations by Cha
tterjee was a prelude made to clear the mince words against what seems a blatant
way for him to appoint people in key posi- state interference. BJP leader Chandra
tions of the university’s administration. Kumar Bose says, “It is disturbing to see
“It is an open secret that the state govern- that an institution of the stature of Jadav
pur University is succumb-
ment has been trying to
ing to political pressure.”
infiltrate educational insti-
Over the past week, in
tutions by cramming it
The Opposition the midst of the agitation,
with people connected
Calcutta’s newspapers
with the ruling Trinamool spoke out
flashed photographs of
Congress. Political establi against state
vice chancellor Das near
shments have always wan interference in
Partha Chatterjee’s house,
ted to control educational educational
with captions and head-
systems as it gives them
lines wondering what he
access to and control of the institutions.
way education is imparted. TMC denies the was doing there.
Predictably, a Trinamool
But during the current rule insinuations.
have commenced a relay hungerstrike from
July 9, and the 86 colleges affiliated to the
university have closed down.
MUSU president M. Dayaman says they
would settle for nothing less than Pandey’s
resignation. “We are aware of Pandey and
his despotic administration; our allegations
aren’t false. We feel the BJP-led government
is siding with the VC instead of looking at the
facts,” he says. A 48-hour state-wide bandh
called by the MUSU commenced from July 17
midnight to press for the VC’s ouster.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh
met Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar
in New Delhi to apprise him of the imbroglio.
Sources say he had urged Javadekar to rev
iew the members of the fact-finding panel
tasked to probe the charges against Pandey.
The HRD ministry had constituted the com
mittee on July 12, with UGC officer J.K.
Tripathy and HRD ministry official Surat
Singh as members. MUTA feels the inquiry
committee is not credible and says its mem
bers are acquaintances of Pandey.
The non-declaration of semester exams
has also riled students, some of whom sto
rmed the CM’s bungalow in protest. Students
warn of more intense agitations if their
demand to oust the VC is not met. O
source stoutly denies the charge of infil-
trating educational institutions. “That
used to happen on a regular basis during
the Left rule,” he says. “Unless you were
with the CPI(M) or CPI etc, you had lit-
tle chance of getting a position in insti-
tutions, not just educational, but even
the police force.”
CPI(M) MP Mohammed Selim counters
the charges, saying, “The agitation in the
campuses across Bengal is happening now,
when the Trinamool is ruling.”
As the political mud-slinging thick-
ened around them, JU’s faculty and
students kept their eyes on the one
goal—to protect and uphold the “honour
of Jadavpur University”, as a student
put it. “The admission test is a safety net
to ensure that only the best are admitted
to this prestigious institution.”
Their persistence paid off. On July 10,
the EC revoked its earlier decision and
declared the restoration of admission
tests. The VC, possibly to refute allega-
tions that he acted under pressure from
the powers that be, signalled that the
retraction was not his choice and off
ered to resign. The brazen attempt to
breach the ramparts of merit is beaten
back for now. O
30 July 2018 OUTLOOK 17