West Bengal govt urges Calcutta University to postpone exam from TMC student wing foundation day

Kolkata 

The West Bengal government’s higher education department has urged the Calcutta University (CU) authorities to postpone their scheduled exams from the Trinamool Congress student wing foundation day. This has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition. 

However, the CU Vice-Chancellor, Shanta Dutta, has maintained that they will not change the date of the exams. The said exams of B.Com Semester 4 and B.A.LLB Semester 4 are scheduled on August 28, which is also the foundation day of Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP). 

“The party supremo should have called the student leaders and stopped the celebrations this year, given how many of the TMC student wing leaders have been accused in various crimes,” V-C Dutta told a local television channel. This comment came in reference to one of the prime accused in the South Calcutta Law College rape case being a TMCP leader. 

The V-C also said that the government sending official letters to request things on behalf of political parties is unheard of. She has also stated that she will further discuss the matter at an emergency syndicate meeting. 

TMCP State General Secretary Avirup Chakraborty said that the decision to hold the exam on August 28 is “disrespectful”. In an email addressed to the V-C, he also wrote that it was a “deliberate attempt to undermine the sentiments of students associated with TMCP.” 

On Monday (July 28), the TMC student leaders of TMC had also gheraoed the CU V-C, demanding rescheduling of two undergraduate examinations scheduled on August 28. 

Students Federation of India (SFI), a student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), State Secretary Debanjan Dey stated that the highhandedness of TMCP must stop. “TMCP is behaving as if colleges and universities are their personal property and their leaders will decide when to conduct exams,” Mr Dey added.