Thursday, Apr 11, 2013
Kolkata: Terming the attack on Presidency College and University as barbaric, West Bengal Governor M. K. Narayanan, who is also the chancellor of the University, said that those who attacked the university should be treated as criminals.
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has from the very beginning denied any involvement of its students wing Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCCP) in the rampage. Even state education minister Bratya Basu, who is an alumni of the college, had said that TMCCP do not have a wing in Presidency and is not behind the attack. “The vice-chancellor had informed that the attackers were outsiders. I have asked the commissioner of police to take action, irrespective of the political colour of those involved,” he said on Wednesday.
Different TMC leaders came up with the same explanations. “Our party workers were not involved in the Presidency University incident. There is no TMC student union there. The administration will take steps,” industries minister and Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.
However, TMC councillor Partha Basu has been caught on camera at the gate of the university at the time that it was attacked. The photograph was first aired by Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta (24 hours), showing Basu surrounded by people, some holding TMC flags and trying to climb on to the gates of the university, which were held together by iron chain. Witnesses later said gas torches were used by the attackers to force their way in breaking the lock of the main gate and ransacking the historic Baker Laboratory even as the policemen watched.
Eyewitness reports suggest that around 100 men entered the campus with iron rods, knives, sticks and javelins They attacked students and then headed towards the Baker laboratory where Physics Department students were attending class. They also beat up three students and teachers. The condition of two students, injured in the attack, is said to be critical. Some TMC men also reportedly chased girl students across the university campus and threatened them with rape and assault. The 100-year-old physics laboratory where physicist Meghnad Saha, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and many other famous names had taught and worked, was recently renovated, was inaugurated by former President APJ Abdul Kalam on March 11 this year.
“They smashed windowpanes, damaged laboratory equipment and beat up one of our colleagues, and students who were conducting some experiment there,” said Professor Somak Raychaudhury, who left a career in the United Kingdom to head the physics department at Presidency.
Both SFI and Independent Consolidation, the two students’ union of the university, have called a strike on Thursday to protest the assault on the students and teachers by the TMCCP members. Students and teachers along with alumni members joined in a protest march condemning the incident and demanding security for university . “We want to attend classes with out fear, and the state must ensure that,” said Kuntala Sengupta, a university student.
TMC has been on a violent offensive since Tuesday evening, when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and cabinet minister Amit Mitra was heckled in Delhi by student activists affiliated to the Left.
By Archisman Dinda Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
