Victim of Varsity Politicisation: Outgoing Jadavpur VC

Kolkata, Jan 13 (IANS) Accusing the students of indulging in drug and alcohol abuse, outgoing Jadavpur University Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti Tuesday claimed he had to step down in the face of "undemocratic" and "unconstitutionala stir initiated by students with political affiliations.

"My resignation is a mark of protest against such anarchism perpetrated by the agitating students and unfortunately by some of the teachers who are members of the Jadavpur University Teachers' Association," Chakrabarti told the media here.

"The students are at a formative stage and need guidance. They need to realise that the university campus is not meant for indulging in addiction and substance abuse in various forms including alcohol and cannabis etc."

"As a VC it is my duty to guide the students properly and ensure that there is discipline in the university, but unfortunately I failed," he said.

Chakrabarti's resignation was Monday announced by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the campus.

Countering criticism that he was a Trinamool Congress loyalist, Chakrabarti asserted he has no political affiliation.

"I regret the fact that despite not having any political affiliation, I was branded by the media as a politically coloured person," he said.

"I take responsibility in declaring that I have no political affiliations towards any political party and I have not decided to resign under any political pressure but on the contrary condemning the unwarranted agitation at JU," he said.

Chakrabarti said he became the victim of the political agitation and Monday (Jan 12) should be observed as a 'black day'.

"Was it apolitical? No possibly the answer is no. The persons who were behind the agitation were all political persons and they were contemplating political implications in continuing the agitation.

"Being an apolitical person without any political affiliation, I became the victim of that politicisation which has started long back in our university system. So we must condemn it and yesterday (Monday) it was a black day for the political as well academic administration as well as academic fraternity of the country," he said.

He added: "It should be marked as a Black Day in the country when a VC had to go away in the face of undemocratic unconstitutional, political agitation in the interests of the university."