Maya vs Rahul again: varsity locks him out, his security is ‘withdrawn’

Union Minister of State for Home Shri Prakash Jaiswal — who also represents Kanpur in the Lok Sabha— alleged Rahul’s programme was cancelled “at (U P Chief Minister) Mayawati’s behest at the eleventh hour”. U P Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said Vice-Chancellor V K Suri had ordered the cancellation on Mayawati’s instructions.

Suri was not available for a comment.

The U P Government denied a hand in the matter. Whatever was done, was done by the university administration, the Government said in a statement. No permission was taken from the Government for the programme; there was, therefore, no question of it being disallowed, the statement said.

University Public Relations Officer C P Sachan made two statements, which appeared to contradict each other.

During the day, Sachan said the meeting had to be cancelled because, even though “all preparations” had been made, “we could not gather the required number of students to meet Gandhi”. The Lal Bahadur Shastri Krishak Sabhaghar auditorium, the venue for the meeting, can accommodate about 150 people.

In the evening, however, Sachan put out a completely different press statement.

No permission had been sought from university authorities regarding Rahul Gandhi’s visit, and none was given, the statement said. There was no question of the university making arrangements for Rahul, and this was conveyed to him and his representatives. The arrangements had actually been made for the university convocation, to be attended by the Governor, the statement added.

Rahul was scheduled to discuss with students reasons for low agricultural productivity in UP. The interaction was scheduled to begin at 11 am, but minutes before his plane landed at Ahirwana airport, the event was cancelled. Assembled students were told to go back, gates of the auditorium were locked, and the security cover for the event was withdrawn.

On finding the auditorium locked, Rahul marched to the institute canteen and interacted with students there for about 30 minutes. Addressing a Congress convention at the Motijheel grounds later, he called the Mayawati government “vindictive”, and alleged that it treated Dalits as a votebank.

Shri Prakash Jaiswal said the function had been organized with the V-C’s permission. “The Vice-Chancellor himself gave permission,” he said. “Shockingly, Suri called me up on Friday morning around 10.30 and said that the function had been cancelled.”

Rita Bahuguna Joshi said even the Governor (who is also the university’s chancellor) had been kept in the loop. “We took the permission of Governor T V Rajeswar to enter the university premises,” she said. “Suri has proved that he is an incompetent V-C, who does not deserve to remain at the post.”

On the issue of the alleged withdrawal of security to Rahul in Kanpur, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said in New Delhi: “We came to know about it through news reports. Concerned people in the Home Ministry have spoken to officials in the state government. The matter is being looked into.”

Congress leaders alleged that the withdrawal of police security by Uttar Pradesh had left Rahul with only his half dozen-odd SPG security guards for the entire time he spent on campus. Security agencies in Delhi confirmed independently that the police escort was indeed withdrawn for some time, but was later restored.

“U P Chief Minister seems to have crossed the line where politics should end and responsible governance should begin. It is the job of the state government, under the SPG Act, to augment security of an SPG protectee. If the state wilfully refuses to comply with the statutory Act, it is a very serious matter and we expect that the central government will take it up with the U P government in a very serious manner and ensure that such things never happen in future,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

(With ENS, New Delhi)