A day after the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) members ransacked the Presidency University campus here, the vice-chancellor of the university, Malabika Sarkar, today joined students in a protest.
Students were observing a strike to protest the violence by the TMCP. Two students’ groups — the Communist Party of India (Marxists)-leaning Students’ Federation of India and the Independent Consolidation — had called for the strike. Although a strike or protest is not rare in Presidency, a vice-chancellor joining it is unprecedented.
Sarkar was in the university campus with protesting students. “Some miscreants bearing Trinamool Congress (TMC) party flags entered the university premises and vandalised several departments. They were shouting party slogans. The protesters were apparently not looking like members from the student fraternity. I support the students' demand,” said Sarkar.
She also criticised the police's unwillingness to stop the vandalism. "They started beating up whichever students they found. They chased girls and made obscene remarks. The four policemen here took no action. The staff went down to protect students," the vice-chancellor added.
The students, along with many alumni of the prestigious institution, today took out a protest rally in the city.
Sarkar apprised the governor's office of the violence. Condemning the attack in the university, West Bengal governor M K Narayanan said: "Those who ransacked should be treated like criminals."
TMC leaders condemned the attack, too. "It has nothing to do with our party. The miscreants will be punished. But such incidents cannot be compared with what happenned with our ministers in Dellhi,” West Bengal Industry Minister and senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee said.
The police today arrested two people in connection with the incident. However, televison footage telecast by local channels here showed one TMC councillor and two TMCP leaders along with the mob that vandalised the campus.
The miscreants, protesting manhandling of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and finance minister Amit Mitra in Delhi by Left activists, had yesterday ransacked several departments of the university, including the century-old Baker Laboratory of the physics department, set up by Jagadish Chandra Bose in 1913.
Meanwhile, Banerjee, who is admitted to a private hospital here, is said to be “stable” now.
“She is stable though she has mild chest pain and pain in the left knee,” said a doctor, part of the 18-member medical team examining Banerjee.
