Rudderless JU: Different sections pull in different directions
Times of India | 8 March 2025
123456 Kolkata: It's been a week since a clash broke out at Jadavpur University last Saturday but confusion continued to reign on the campus.
The protesting students have given the JU authorities till Monday to meet them to resolve the impasse, but the university's interim vice-chancellor, Bhaskar Gupta, has been in hospital, with no update on his discharge date, and pro-VC Amitava Dutta has been in Bengaluru for an official programme. Gupta's wife, Keya, said the interim VC would not go to the university at this stage as any kind of stress could be harmful to him.
The chancellor's nominee, Masum Akhtar, said, "It's high time all the stakeholders sat together to solve the matter and bring normalcy back." But he declined to say who would initiate the dialogue with the agitating students. JUTA assistant general secretary Rajyeswar Sinha, too, said, "The university authorities need to open a dialogue immediately. We want the students to take exams and return to classes... The university has been so inactive and ineffective that a solution has not yet been found. We feel a positive role is required from the university and from the state."
While most students continued their class and exam boycott, some attended classes on Friday, though fewer than that on Thursday. Among all the 16 UG engineering departments, students from only architecture department appeared for their semester exam on Friday. Students of 29 out of 35 PG engineering departments stayed away from exams.
The engineering student representatives planned to meet the officials of the controller section to push back the exam dates to March-end. Debarghya Josh, an engineering student, said, "Students decided to boycott exams to protest against the attempt at creating disturbance on the campus. False cases are filed against several students."
Professors, irrespective of their organisations, urged for return of normalcy on the campus. English professor Manojit Mandal, also an organiser of the WBCUPA event on Saturday where Bratya Basu was invited, said, "Students said they would not attend my classes. I respect their decision. But I want them to return to classes as the issue is not about classes or exams. No class has been held in my department for five days." But physics professor Sanjay Kumar said UG and PG students attended a seminar. IR, Bengali and chemistry professors said some classes were held, though many students stayed away.
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