Basu8217;s biographer issue snowballs

CALCUTTA, March 21: The row over the appointment of West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu's authorised biographer as pro vice-chancellor ...

CALCUTTA, March 21: The row over the appointment of West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu8217;s authorised biographer as pro vice-chancellor proved to be an obstinate irritation for the CPIM which so far refuses to fade away.For an already embarrassed CPIM, the issue of appointment of Suravi Banerjee, Basu8217;s authorised biographer, as pro vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, appears set to get a fresh lease of life with Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi severely criticising the former for 8220;packing the educational institutions of the state with the loyalists.8221;

The CPI M tired of taking panning on the issue, which even came from unexpected quarters, from the Left Front partners, today launched an offensive to counter the charges8217; levelled against them by the BJP leaders during the rally here yesterday.

Dismissing the charge as sheer nonsense,8217; party8217;s state secretary Anil Biswas and the state minister for home police Buddhadeb Bhattacharaya, said: 8220;We don8217;t have to take any criticism from aparty BJP which has already packed over 17 leading national institutes with the RSS and the VHP men.8221; Biswas, who presided over the press conference today, however refused to comment on the appointment of Banerjee, saying 8220;it was decided on the basis of merit and not on the basis of her being the biographer of the Chief Minister.8221;

8220;And we really don8217;t have to clarify our stand on the issue once again,8221; Biswas, also a party8217;s Politburo member, said here this evening.

Charging the BJP and RSS with distorting history, Biswas, who came ready to face fresh questions on the issue, said: 8220;We have proof that the books prescribed for the students in the RSS schools, like Vidya Bharati, teach pupils that Qutab Minar was built by Sumoodra Gupta.8221;

8220;Is this not distortion of history?8221; Biswas said, asking reporters 8220;with such a record how dare they speak about our meddling with education?8221;Reading out from a book which criticised Hindu Mahashabha leader Samaproshad Mukherjee for reducing the CalcuttaUniversity as his zamindari8217; when he was vice-chancellor of the university, Biswas said: 8220;We can always understand why the BJP leaders want to glorify a personality like Samaproshad Mukherjee.8221;