Barbed wire fencing at the SRFTI gate
The rest abstained. The student union also published a statement on its social media account that concluded with the ‘Lal Salam’ slogan.
This also marked the first time the student union, previously recognised for maintaining a non-political stance, utilised a slogan traditionally associated with the Left. Kolkata: A day after SRFTI vice-chancellor Santosh Ajmera met faculty members on Wednesday and announced that resumption of classes was non-negotiable and students staying away would face consequences, a single student attended all his classes in the EDM wing on Thursday.
Instead, they issued a press statement strongly condemning the administration’s response to the Oct 4 events, arguing that the official stance sanitises violence, relies on vague language and avoids accountability.
The first-year student attended two sessions in both the first and second halves, according to a source. Since faculty members have been instructed to start imparting lessons, both the sessions took place without any glitch,” the source said. “The student had taken a conscious decision to attend the sessions. Each session is of a duration of three hours. The EDM wing had published the routine for this week and had allotted two sessions for the new batch. The union criticised the administration for erasing campus graffiti and erecting physical barriers like barbed wire instead of addressing student safety, investigating how an outside group unlawfully entered the campus, or explaining why an FIR has not been filed despite available video and photographic evidence.
The VC had instructed the staff to vacate his room and posting that video is only instigating others to now post videos of students’ misbehaviour,” said a source. “The VC couldn’t work. Some faculty members have repeatedly requested the students to vacate the chamber and use other means to register their protest and demands. But they didn’t listen. We all know that this is a big offence and intrusion into govt property.
The statement questioned vice-chancellor Santosh Ajmera’s claims regarding an anticipated mob of 3,500 people.
“We want a transparent explanation from the vice-chancellor regarding his claim that 3,500 were expected and that he negotiated the number down to 200,” said a student. On being asked if students were present at the meeting when such a statement was allegedly made by the VC, the student said, “We were not present at the meeting. Actor Suman Banerjee , BJP’s state cultural in-charge, said, “All this talk about the SRFTI students’ union being apolitical is wrong.
But few students came to know from some sources. This statement has finally proved what we have been saying. The Left is behind the student movement at SRFTI.”