Bengal Education Minister indirectly blames Guv for JU student's death on Sep 11

Kolkata, Sep 13 (IANS) West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Saturday afternoon indirectly blamed Governor C.V. Ananda Bose for the lack of adequate security arrangements at Kolkata’s iconic Jadavpur University, which led to the death (due to drowning) of a third-year English literature student of the university within the campus on Thursday night.

However, Basu did not directly name the Governor, who by virtue of his chair is also the Chancellor of all state-universities.

The education minister made this statement while addressing a public programme on Saturday. He said that because of “someone’s” constant disagreement with the state education department regarding full-time vice-chancellors in state universities in West Bengal, Jadavpur University was still running with just an interim vice-chancellor.

According to Basu, because of the absence of a permanent vice-chancellor, crucial administrative decisions, including upgrading of the internal security system within the campus, could not be taken, which ultimately led to Thursday’s mishap.

“When we had our full-time vice-chancellor, everything was working well. However, later, a prime state university was made headless. Someone did that when the matter was pending in the Supreme Court. Anarchy was thus created in the university. Now, due to the anarchy, these students' lives are being sacrificed,” Basu said.

According to him, when an iconic institution like Jadavpur University had been operating without a permanent vice-chancellor, such irregularities were bound to surface.

“There are previous instances where such tense situations have surfaced. What Jadavpur University needs immediately and urgently is a permanent vice-chancellor,” Basu said.

Reacting to Basu’s comments, former state BJP president in West Bengal and the Union minister of state for education, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, said that the West Bengal education minister was unnecessarily politicising the unfortunate but accidental death of a student within the campus.

“I would advise the state education minister to rather stand by the family members of the victim student instead of politicising the issue,” Majumdar said.

--IANS

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