Roji M John
SFI activists, led by college representatives, swarmed the venue, displaying banners and raising slogans to protest the controversial suspension of 16 students from Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady.
Kochi: Democratic dissent and peaceful protests are fundamental rights within a healthy academic environment, but a strict line should be drawn between legitimate expressions of student opinion and aggressive behaviour that undermines institutional sanctity, higher education minister Roji M John has said. They have undermined the full-year efforts of the college to organise the event,” John said. The minister said that he would not be intimidated by threats or yield to coercive actions.
“Students have full freedom to express their views and question policies through legitimate, non-violent means in a democratic setup. But we cannot accept when they act with the intention of disrupting an academic programme. The demonstration erupted while the minister was delivering his inaugural address at the college’s graduation ceremony. the protesters advanced toward the stage, prompting security interventions and forcing the minister to cut short his speech and leave the dais Although John offered to address their grievances formally after the ceremony. “A convocation ceremony is a big dream of the students concerned or their parents. Such protests should not disrupt the same. The protesters stormed onto the stage and snatched the mike to ask questions. The incident has since drawn widespread political fallout, with the Congress state brass echoing the minister’s concerns over campus safety and the disruption of public functions. Local law enforcement has registered cases against several identifiable participants while university authorities are reviewing the security lapses.
There is a manner to hold the protests… that should be in a democratic way…,” the minister told reporters soon after he was forced to cut short his speech during a convocation ceremony at Maharaja’s College on Friday.