Visva-Bharati agitation shames Bengal: Bangladesh President cuts visit short

KOLKATA: An overnight gherao by Visva-Bharati school students shamed Tagore’s institution — and the country — on Tuesday, forcing Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid to leave Santiniketan without lunch, 45 minutes before his scheduled departure.
Students, aided by their parents, had held VB vice-chancellor Sushanta Duttagupta hostage in his office since 4.30pm on Monday and did not allow him to step out to receive the Bangladesh head of state.The agitating students and their parents also broke a Visva-Bharati tradition that has been around since Tagore’s days where the vice-chancellor formally opens the famous Poush Mela (winter festival) after a special prayer at Chatimtala. This is the first time that the VC couldn’t make it to the prayers.
What’s worse, guardians and schoolteachers gave full-throated support to the students’ arm-twisting of the university officials who were only trying to follow the law. The protesters demanded that VB withdraw the decision to scrap the 50% ‘quota’ for students of VB-run schools Patha Bhavan and Siksha Satra although UGC laws do not allow such reservation. The VC was hammered with slogans like ‘amader dabi mante hobe, noile andolan jangi hobe (Unless you fulfill our demand, the agitation will get violent)’. Poush Mela visitors — and presumably the Bangladesh President as well — would have heard it as well.
The agitators gave in only when the VC agreed to their demand. Duttagupta rushed home to freshen up after being locked up in his office for 20 hours, but by the time he scrambled back to meet Abdul Hamid, the President was already on his way out.
Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi used strong words to express his displeasure at the “growing indiscipline” among students. “Agitation by students in the state is bringing disrepute to their institutions. I don't know why students are becoming so undisciplined. Why are they losing respect for teachers? Why are they going to defame their institutions where they study? I do not like these things,” the governor said on Tuesday, even as the threat of the Jadavpur University convocation boycott loomed.
With the VC and senior university officials besieged, the Bangladesh President was driven to the Rathindra Guest House from the helipad at 12.45pm and then to Uttarayan Complex, where Rabindra Bhavan authorities arranged for a short cultural welcome. He stayed for less than an hour and decided to leave without having lunch. He was on his way out when Duttagupta arrived at 1.52pm. At 1.57pm, the president left for the helipad where he exchanged brief pleasantries with the VC.
It was clear that the protesters had timed the agitation keeping Poush Mela and Hamid’s visit in mind so as to pile on the pressure on the university authorities. The cheering that followed the VC’s caving in does not bode well for Bengal, where gheraos by school students are becoming an alarming trend. In the last few years, school and college students have gheraoed teachers repeatedly to allow them to cheat in exams or even force them to ‘pass’ failed examinees. Presidency students had gheraoed the VC recently against an attendance stricture but the VC stood firm.
The Visva-Bharati VC, however, gave in and stalled the “unconfirmed decision” of the academic council to scrap the quota. He issued a note saying that the prevailing admission system would continue “in the interest of the students” and told the media that the matter would be discussed in the next academic council meeting.
Former VB VC Sujit Kumar Basu, who was at Santiniketan on Tuesday, felt “ashamed”. “What happened today is quite shameful. It has never happened in 120 years of Poush Mela. We could not even show the minimum courtesy to the President of Bangladesh. Both the agitators and the university authorities should have been more cautious about the ramifications. It is a matter of surprise that not only the students but teachers also took part in the agitation. We cannot hide this embarrassment,” he said.
The Visva-Bharati teachers who supported the agitation blamed the VC for the mess. Kishore Bhattacharya, a Patha Bhavan teacher and office-bearer of the Adhyapak Sabha, said: “The incident was undesirable. We have been insisting that the Visva-Bharati authorities thrash out the problem through dialogue. But the authorities didn’t pay heed. Finally, a solution has come out of discussion. It could have been done on Monday. This embarrassment could have been avoided,” Bhattacharya said.