Jadavpur Movement

In a historic victory for the students and teachers of Jadavpur University, Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee came to the university on 12 January 2015 and announced that the Vice Chancellor AbhijitChakrabarti would be resigning. Chakrabarti who was known for his close links with the ruling Trinamool Congress had been facing massive protest agitation by the academic community of this premier university for failing to tackle a sexual harassment case and subsequent attempts to violently suppress the protest movement.The protests had started after an allegation of sexual molestation in the campus on 28th August and official apathy towards it. On the night of 16th September 2014, Professor Abhijit Chakrabarti, then interim Vice Chancellor, called in the police to supposedly ‘protect’ and ‘rescue’ him from a group of peaceful student agitators, the actual intention being to browbeat the protestors. The police arrived accompanied by some hooligans backed by the ruling party TMC and manhandled the students in the midnight. Some girl students have also complained about molesting them by the police. The Vice Chancellor aggravated the volatile situation by making false allegations against the students.This resort to violence by the head of a university outraged the whole academic community which felt that Professor Chakrabarti has lost all moral rights to hold the office. The Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) organized a convention where a white paper on several misdeeds of Professor Chakrabarti, including evidence of plagiarism, was released. JUTA also alleged that the degree conferment in the Convocation, especially D.Sc and D.Litt, had been in violation of Jadavpur University statutes as the name of the recipients were not cleared by the Court,  which is the highest body of the University.On 24th December 2014, the 59th Convocation of Jadavpur University turned into a battleground of protest. The majority of the students boycotted the Convocation. JUTA too stayed away from the convocation and instead organized a 24-hour hunger strike and sit-in demonstration. At the Convocation, Geetashri Sarkar refused to accept her gold medal for the best graduate from the Governor.  Geetashri, the General Secretary of Arts Faculty students’ union and a SFI leader, declined the awards with folded hands but the Governor asked her to get out. Even as discontent roiled the University, Trinamool leaders and the government stood firmly behind the VC from beginning. CM dubbed it a "small incident", one of her favorite descriptions. Her nephew, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, mocked the JU protest as an outburst against the University's "drive against consumption of liquor and drugs on campus". Madan Mitra, who is now behind the bars in the Saradha chit fund scam, said the movement is organized by the Maoists. TMC leader Sankudeb Panda, who is also under the scanner in the Saradha scam, threatened to ban JUTA. TMC organized a counter rally against the spontaneous rally protesting police atrocities. The VC publicly said that the students put his life in danger and that students had smashed light bulbs and attacked the police. All these claims could not be corroborated by the available audio-visual clips.From 5th January, students of JU started a fast unto death even as the VC continued his arrogant and inflexible attitude. JUTA launched a movement to “Save JU” and demanded the removal of the VC. Solidarity was coming from all corners of the society. The Higher Education Minister tried to negotiate with the students and teachers but they were steadfast on their demand.Ultimately the intensity of the movement forced the Chief Minister to come to the campus on 12th January and say that the Vice-Chancellor has messaged the Higher Education Minister informing his intention to resign after a telephonic conversation with the CM.The separate movements of teachers and students converging on the same demand ultimately were able to snatch the victory. But the way the Government continuously intervened in the functioning of an autonomous institution and the blatant manner in which the VC acted as a pawn of the TMC, ultimately ‘messaging’ his intention to resign to the Minister is yet another example of the Trinamoolisation of education in West Bengal.It was the unprecedented political intervention of the people and the valiant fight by the teachers and students that this University was saved from TMC manufactured chaos. 13th January, 2015