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SFI calls for agitation demanding Bengal minister’s resignation
Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Verma said the police will ensure that examinees face no problem reaching exam centres set up at various schools and colleges
Kolkata: The Students Federation of India (SFI), CPI(M)’s students’ front, has called for an agitation at all universities in Bengal from Monday demanding the resignation of education minister Bratya Basu whose car allegedly hit a student at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University (JU) during an agitation on Saturday.
“We will start agitations at all universities from Monday demanding Basu’s resignation,” Debanjan Dey, SFI’s Bengal unit secretary, said on Sunday.
Because the state’s Class 12 board examinations will commence on Monday, Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Verma said the police will ensure that examinees face no problem reaching exam centres set up at various schools and colleges.
“Police will take all precautionary measures to ensure that the examinees are not affected by this agitation. We have read about it in social media posts,” Verma said at a press conference.
“SFI will not cause any inconvenience to the examinees,” said Dey.
Saturday’s incident happened when students owing allegiance to SFI and other Left organisations staged a snap demonstration, allegedly heckled several teachers and set fire to an office of the Trinamool Congress students’ front when Basu visited the JU campus to attend a conference of West Bengal College and University Professors’ Association (WBCUPA), the TMC’s teachers’ wing.
Demanding students’ union elections that have not been held for almost 10 years, the agitators surrounded Basu’s SUV and broke its windshield. As the students kept thumping on the vehicle from all sides, the driver tried to move forward, injuring Indranuj Roy, who fell in front of the SUV.
The private hospital where Roy was admitted said on Sunday that doctors had to put 17 stitches on the left side of his face and the left eye was being examined.
Amit Roy, the injured student’s father, said the JU authorities should have been more careful.
“Students are immature. The authorities should have handled the situation more intelligently. The incident was uncalled for,” he told the media.
Talking to a Bengali news channel, the education minister said: “I feel sorry for the student. The driver, a young person, got nervous and tried to move the vehicle after shards of glass from the windshield hit him. The shards fell on me as well.”
The police commissioner said seven first information reports (FIR) were registered after the incidents at JU.
“Of these, two cases related to the arson were registered suo motu by the police. One person has been arrested and produced in court. He is remanded in police custody till March 12,” said Verma.
Officials at Jadavpur police station said they arrested Shahil Ali, a former JU student who lives in a rented flat not far from the campus.
Ratan Sinha Roy, the building’s owner, told the media that Ali works at an international information technology company.
“He is a very well-natured person. I never thought he could be involved in something like this,” Roy told the media.
