Visva-Bharati authorities on Monday, through a notification, “temporarily suspended” the admission process and publication of results, citing vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty was under “siege”, a move many dubbed an attempt to thwart the ongoing students’ protest.
Students owing allegiance to Left-backed unions, including the SFI and the Students’ Unity for New Society, have been staging an indefinite demonstration outside the VC’s home since August 27 night, urging the rustication of student leaders Somnath Sow, Falguni Pan and Rupa Chakraborty be scrapped. The three, along with others, had become faces of protest against the “whimsical” actions of the VC and his alleged bid to saffronise the campus.
The notice on Monday by the coordinator of admission coordination cell of Visva-Bharati states: “I am directed to notify that, because the Hon’ble Upacharya, Visva-Bharati is currently under siege, the admission process in various courses of Visva-Bharati cannot proceed as usual.” It adds that the VC chairs the admission committee and admission coordination cell and the admission cell “needs the physical presence” of the VC “in his office”.
“Given these unfavourable circumstances... the admission process stands temporarily suspended,” it read.
A separate notice cited the varsity’s inability to publish results citing the same reason but did not specify the exams.
Many students and teachers saw in the twin moves a ploy to derail students protesting the rustication.
Students said both admissions and release of results were to be done online and the VC’s “physical presence” was not needed. A varsity official agreed that the VC’s role as chairman of the admission cell was a mere formality and a team does the actual job.
Two protesting girl students filed a complaint with Santiniketan police around 11pm on Monday accusing the VC and officiating public relations officer Anirban Sircar of directing male security persons to pounce on them when they were putting up a festoon. This paper sent a text to Sircar asking for a reply, but none had come when the report was filed close to midnight.
The SFI called for a rally on Tuesday that its leader Aishe Ghosh may attend.
Earlier in the day, several residents of Santiniketan, including Visva-Bharati teachers, took out a rally to back the protesting students on Monday.
In the evening, around 300 teaching and non-teaching varsity staff owing allegiance to the VC took out a rally near the site of the student dharna. Students raised slogans, forcing them to retreat.
“The twin notices and the rally by the VC's sympathisers are a ploy to break our movement and we protested with slogans,” said Shreya Chakraborty, a protesting student.
Refuting the anti-student charges, Manju Mohan Mukherjee, the VC’s nominee in the executive council, said: “We went to discuss and find a solution to the impasse.”
Shreya, however, did not buy Mukherjee’s argument. “If they really wanted talks with us then they should have conveyed that to us before arriving here. Even when we started raising slogans on their arrival, none of them said they had come for talks.”
To this Mukherjee said: “We did not inform them earlier as they are our students.”
As Chowdhury and some varsity teachers apparently close to the VC claimed around 300-350 of them had marched to the site of the student protest, students accused them of violating Covid protocols.
“Students are protesting by adhering to Covid protocols. The sympathisers of the VC assembled in large numbers at the protest site in violation of Covid norms. We will file a police complaint against them on Tuesday,” said a varsity teacher who is known as a critic of the present Visva-Bharati administration.
