Amid criticism from the opposition, the Trinamool Congress dismissed the leader of the Aaliya Vishwavidyalaya Sangh.
Amid criticism from the opposition, the Trinamool Congress dismissed the leader of the Aaliya Vishwavidyalaya Sangh.
In West Bengal, another political storm has erupted after a video of student leaders affiliated to the ruling Trinamool Congress abusing and threatening the Vice Chancellor of Kolkata’s Aaliyah University went viral on social media.
In the video clip, Vice-Chancellor Muhammad Ali is seen surrounded by security personnel in his office, even as one Ghiyasuddin Mandal, an expelled student leader and two others, abused, assaulted and threatened. The incident happened on April 1 (Friday) and this video of about 100 seconds went viral within a few hours.
On Sunday, the police arrested Mandal, arresting him under strict sections including 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
“Police reacted quickly with respect to the recent incident at Aaliya University and Jiyasuddin Mandal has already been arrested. The investigation proceeds,” West Bengal Police tweeted from its official handle.
‘no link’
Mandal was expelled from the university a few years back and the Trinamool Congress leadership said the party had no links with the student leader. “Ghiyasuddin was expelled from the Trinamool Congress. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that an attempt is being made to malign the party over the incident.
However, Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Mohammad Salim said that Mandal was the outgoing president of the TMC students’ union at the university, and that the vice-chancellor’s harassment was a reflection of the state’s condition. Mr Salim also referred to the death of Anish Khan, an Aliya University student, saying that Anish was “killed”.
BJP’s West Bengal unit state president Sukanta Majumdar said the administration was forced to arrest Mandal as the video went viral.
Governor sought report
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has sought a report of the incident from the Chief Secretary of the state. “The Chief Secretary has been asked to send a full update by 1 PM tomorrow on the worrying scenario seen in the video in the viral circulation. A situation where law-violating rogue elements make their way without fear of law is certainly a dire situation for law-abiding people,” Mr Dhankhar tweeted.
Meanwhile, students of Alia University staged a sit-in on the campus against the harassment of the Vice-Chancellor. The students said that there were at least two other students who had threatened the VC and demanded that they also be arrested. Mr Ali said he had approached the police on Friday during the incident, who had assured him of action but nothing had been done.