Kolkata, August 22: The opening day of the extended monsoon session of the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday witnessed a chaos with the Opposition BJP MLAs staging a massive protest over the recent ragging-related death of a fresher in the city's iconic Jadavpur University (JU) on August 10. As the session started with a discussion on the matter, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari launched a scathing attack on the state government and the education department on the ragging-death issue. The BJP legislators entered the House sporting black cloaks round their shoulders and participated in the discussion after mobbing an adjournment motion in the matter.

“The matter is really serious. In JU there is a section of extremist left activists who often raised anti-national slogans. It has become a den of a section of anti-national activists. No rules and regulations are applicable for them. Had the rules been followed, the fresher coming from a remote area in rural Bengal would not have died” Adhikari said. He also questioned why the CCTVs were not installed within the JU campus as per the order of the Supreme Court. He also reminded that erstwhile JU vice-chancellor Abhijit Chakraborty, who tried to bring some discipline within the JU campus, was forced to resign by former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, who is currently behind bars for his alleged involvement in the cash for school job case. Jadavpur University Student Death Case: UGC Team Likely To Visit Varsity Next Week to Probe Ragging-Related Death Inside Campus.

Replying to the LoP,  state education minister Bratya Basu said that the matter of ragging is nothing typical in West Bengal. “There was a proposal to implement the anti-ragging measures as suggested by the R.K. Raghavan Committee.  But still ragging is rampant in several universities and educational institutions throughout the country. Recently, a similar incident has been reported from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, which is a central institution,” Basu said. The ruckus started thereafter as the LoP accused the state education minister of indirectly supporting the menace of ragging. Jadavpur University Student Death: Dissatisfied Over First Report, UGC Serves Another Notice to JU Authorities in Swapnodeep Kundu Suicide Case.

West Bengal BJP MLAs Protest

In reply Basu said that the Governor C.V. Ananda Bose was responsible for all this. “The Governor removed the earlier vice- chancellor of JU.  Now he has appointed a new vice-chancellor, whose report on the unfortunate incident has not satisfied the University Grants Commission. I am in favour of free thinking. But there is a difference between free thinking and arbitrariness,” the education minister said. Thereafter, the BJP legislators started protesting, raising slogans after coming down to the Well of the Assembly. Finally, they staged a walkout.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 22, 2023 02:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).