KOLKATA: Teachers of University of Calcutta on Thursday took to the streets in protest against the assault on their colleagues by members of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the students wing of the ruling Trinamool Congress, on Wednesday inside the campus. Several hundred faculty members as well as former college teachers joined the protest march, which began from the science campus of the university and ended at the main campus on College Street in central part of the city.
Meanwhile, Calcutta University Vice- Chancellor Suranjan Das met state Higher Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. “What happened was an untoward incident, which should have been avoided. It is condemnable,” the V-C said.
However, the minister did not concur with the V-C and said that the teachers were assaulted by leaders and local TMC men. And the minister even alleged that the teachers beat up the student leaders.
On Wednesday, the protesting teachers were allegedly manhandled by TMCP president Ashok Rudra, who incidentally is a primary school teacher, and his followers inside the senate hall of the university.
The V-C and Pro-VC Dhrubojyoti Chatterjee were also heckled by the TMCP members. And the TMCP leaders along with some local party leaders allegedly beat up general secretary of Calcutta University Teachers’ Association Dibyendu Pal and woman professor Ishita Mukherjee.
Several other university teachers were also injured and Pal had to be hospitalised following the incident.
However, the TMCP lodged a police complaint against the agitating teachers alleging that two of their members were injured following an assault by the teachers.
The entire teaching community of the university, except those affiliated with the TMC university teachers’ cell, took to the streets demanding strong action. However, they refused to lodge a police complaint saying the students were “like their children” and “few of them had been misled”. “Is it believable that as teachers we would assault our own students?” they asked.
The Calcutta University teachers have a scheduled meeting with the Education Minister on Friday.