‘CM felt this was too much for a learned person like me’

Why did the agitation last so long?
A total 300-400 students of 11,000 were agitating and the problem with these politically motivated protesters is that they didn’t let the voice of the nonpolitical ones surface. Unfortunately, some teachers, who are the main conspirators, fuelled this agitation. They instigated students, conducted meetings with them and it ended up as a personal war against me…  I had tried to streamline the administration. There was nepotism, and financial irregularities which I had intended to investigate. In the last 25 years, there had been illegal recruitment. They had feared trouble. I sacked directors of research centres who had been illegally appointed and replaced them with those who deserved it.

You had mentioned students consuming narcotics.
After sundown, if you walk down Gate No. 4, you will find students with all sorts of narcotic substances. I tried to stop that, engaged guards. This too made me unpopular among a section of students.

What did the CM tell you?
We had a discussion over the phone for about five minutes. She said the problem seemed to be too much for a learned and educated person like me and asked me what I would want to do.

And you simply decided to quit?
Yes. Because no one had asked me about my stand before that, and I realised the situation was going beyond the control of even the government…