KOZHIKODE: Barely 48 hours after Umer Tharamel, associate professor in Malayalam department of Calicut University, dropped a bombshell when he hinted that the appointment to the post of Malayalam assistant professor at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit had been sabotaged, the timeline of his Facebook page has been inundated with abusive comments. Though Tharamel has not responded to any of the abusive comments nor speak to the media, the courage shown by the academic in standing up to the ‘powers be’ has won him tremendous support.
Besides the shockingly vulgar language, there are attempts to portray him as a Muslim fundamentalist as well as a Muslim League(IUML) man. One of the comments even went so far as to warn Tharamel of physical assault. Most of the comments, which came in the form of organised cyber attack, are from the profiles which openly declare Left leanings. The unmistakable irony here is that Tharamel, according to a source, is a member of the pro-CPM Association of Calicut University Teachers (ACT).
Tharamel had been one of the subject experts of the interview board who came out on February 4 regretting that he won’t become a subject expert anymore. Though Tharamel didn’t mention the university nor any person, it later emerged that he was referring to the appointment of CPM former MP M B Rajesh’s wife.
Chennithala asks govt to release files of controversial appointments
Malappuram: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday urged the state government to release the files related to the controversial appointments made by the government. He also said that the government appointed the family members of Industries Minister E P Jayarajan, former MP M B Rajesh, A N Shamseer, MLA, Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel, CPM state secretary in-charge A Vijayaraghavan and former secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in various posts. “I have a long list of backdoor appointments made by the LDF Government during its present tenure. If these appointments were made transparently, the government should make the files of these appointments available in the public domain,” he said.
KSU-YC protest at Kalady varsity
Kochi: KSU-Youth Congress workers took out a march to Sanskrit University at Kalady, in protest against the backdoor appointments and the selection of CPM leader M B Rajesh’s wife as assistant professor, on Saturday. The Kalady police registered a case against 100 KSU workers. “We are demanding the resignation of Vice Chancellor Dharmaraj Adat, who allegedly helped the ruling CPM make illegal appointments bypassing the recruitment by PSC,” said Aloysius Xavier, KSU district president. Meanwhile, a section of Youth Congress workers waved black flag at Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan in Vypeen in protest against the illegal appointments. The protesters under district president Titto Antony raised slogans against the speaker.
Youth Cong Secretariat march turns violent
T’Puram: The march taken out by Youth Congress activists to the Secretariat in protest against the alleged backdoor appointments turned violent on Saturday. The march reached the Secretariat entrance (north gate) around 1pm. The protestors raised slogans against the government’s alleged appointments by ignoring the Kerala Public Service Commission rank lists. K S Sabarinadhan, MLA, addressed the protesters which included four women.