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Registrar of Visva Bharati in West Bengal resigns amidst students’ protests
A section of Visva Bharati students has been protesting since February 28 with 3 demands including reopening of hostels.
KOLKATA: The registrar of Visva Bharati, the only central university in West Bengal, resigned on Tuesday amidst students’ protests.
“Ashish Agarwal has requested me to inform the media that he is no longer the registrar of Visva Bharati. He has stepped down and hence he will not face the media,” Atig Ghosh, the university spokesperson, told the media on Tuesday.
A section of the students of Visva Bharati has been protesting since February 28 with 3 demands including reopening of hostels. Two students also started a hunger strike.
“Physical classes started at Visva Bharati from February 3. Hostels, however, have remained closed as a result of which many students are facing challenges to attend their classes,” said a protesting student.
Set up in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan in Bolpur town in Birbhum district, Visva-Bharati is West Bengal’s only central university and the Prime Minister is its chancellor.
Agarwal was gheraoed for more than 24 hours on March 1. On Monday, a section of the students again gheraoed him and some of the faculty members.
Earlier too, the central university was rocked by student’s protests. In 2021, the vice chancellor was confined to his on-campus residence by agitating students. The impasse broke with the intervention of the Calcutta high court.
