New Delhi: Members of the Trinamool Chatra Parishad (TMCP) allegedly thrashed a college professor after he tried to intervene and protect female postgraduate students who were being forced by the TMCP supporters to shout slogans praising Mamata Banerjee.
According to a report on NDTV, professor Subrata Chatterjee, who teaches Bengali at the Nabagram Hiralal Paul College, intervened after the women students had an altercation with a few undergraduate students who were TMCP activists. The TMCP supporters then demanded that the women students shout ‘Mamata Banerjee Zindabad‘, which they refused to do.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Chatterjee alleged that when the students refused to shout ‘TMC Zindabad’ and ‘Mamata Banerjee Zindabad’, TMCP supporters tried to “thrash them” and “hit a female student”. “When I tried to stand by these students, they targeted me,” Chatterjee told the Hindustan Times.
Chatterjee later lodged a complaint with the police station.
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TMCP’s state unit president Trinankur Bhattacharya condemned the violence. “If anyone from our organisation is involved, strong action will be taken,” Bhattacharya said. Bhattacharya also stated that the party was against forcing any person to chant any slogan.
Pankaj Kumar Ray, the convener of the intellectual cell of Bengal BJP unit and the principal of Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College alleged that the ruling party had no control over its students’ wing and that colleges and universities had become “hubs of lawlessness”.
“In fact, it is due to lack of control on its students’ wing that the government is not conducting the student union elections since 2016,” Ray added.
Shruti Nath Praharaj, general secretary of the Left-wing West Bengal College and University Teachers’ Association also alleged that universities had become “dens of anti-social elements”. “The administration needs to ensure exemplary punishment so that such offences are not repeated,” Praharaj said.
On Thursday, Mamata Banerjee called Professor Subrata Chatterjee and expressed regret over the incident, according to NDTV. The two students seen thrashing the professor were subsequently arrested and TMC chief from the Hooghly district personally apologised to Chatterjee.