KASARGOD: Rajya Sabha member and CPI’s senior leader Binoy Viswam has written to Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to direct the Central University of Kerala to revoke the suspension of assistant professor Gilbert Sebastian. Viswam also asked the minister to ensure no punitive action was taken against the teacher.
In an online class on April 19, Dr Sebastian, an assistant professor in the Department of International Relations and Politics, called the RSS-BJP a proto-fascist organisation and criticised the vaccine policy of the Centre. After the ABVP, the students’ wing of the RSS, complained against the teacher to vice-chancellor prof H Venkateshwarlu, he was suspended pending enquiry on May 17. In his letter to the Union minister, Vishwam said attempts to restrict free thought, especially in educational institutions, were a matter of concern.