BJD and Congress target Union minister over renaming plan

Describing Pradhan’s statement as unfortunate, Mohanty said Ravenshaw University is the pride of each and every Odia.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan (File photo)

BHUBANESWAR/CUTTACK: The Opposition BJD and Congress on Sunday came down heavily on Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over his proposal to change the name of Ravenshaw University.

BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said the minister should not try to destroy the Ravenshaw brand by linking it with the ‘Na’anka Durbhikhya’ (the great Odisha famine) of 1866.

Describing Pradhan’s statement as unfortunate, Mohanty said Ravenshaw University is the pride of each and every Odia. Pradhan can never understand the contribution of Thomas Edward Ravenshaw to the growth of higher education of Odisha. “It is a very unfortunate statement given on the pretext of Odia Asmita. He should have read a little history before doing so,” he added.

The BJD leader demanded that Pradhan should apologise to the people of Odisha and desist from doing politics in the name of Ravenshaw University.

Congress MLA from Barabati-Cuttack Sofia Firdous said Ravenshaw is an emotion and instead of being bothered about trivial things like renaming it, steps should be taken to develop it into a world-class university. “Change of name is not required, rather it should be given the status of central university. If the Centre does this, it would provide many opportunities to students,” she said.

Former MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik said being an alumnus of the university, he cannot accept the proposal to change the name. He, however, said there should be a debate on the issue.

Meanwhile, the state unit of AIDSO staged a protest on the Ravenshaw University campus against the proposal. A student activist said, “There are many problems in Ravenshaw. Instead of trying to solve the problems, why is the minister doing politics over the name and colour.”