Students Pull Out Red Carpet

Relations between Himachal Pradesh University Vice-Chancellor S.D. Sharma, a former RSS man, and the Left-controlled students8217; body, St...

Relations between Himachal Pradesh University Vice-Chancellor S.D. Sharma, a former RSS man, and the Left-controlled students8217; body, Students8217; Central Association SCA, have always been fraught with tension. On December 28, students led by the Students8217; Federation of India and the SCA gathered in front of his office to protest against his alleged corruption and nepotism. Sharma called the police. In the ensuing melee, five students were injured seriously, another dozen mildly. Ten were sent to jail and 23 were struck off the university rolls.

THE sun finally set on December 28, but the reverberations continue to be felt into the second week of the New Year. And if the Leftist organisations have their way, it will make a difference in the way at least one Assembly constituency votes come Election Day in February.

Spearheading the protests are the CPIM and the Leftist Democratic Youth Federation of India, the Kisan Sabha and the SFI. Two months ahead of the elections, this is too good an opportunity to miss for the Left, which has little presence elsewhere in the hill state.

8216;8216;The atrocities on the students and the debasement of academics will be our focus,8217;8217; says Sanjay Chauhan, vice-president of the Kisan Sabha, and CPIM8217;s most likely nominee for the Shimla Assembly seat. The Communists have never won less than 5,000 votes in this constituency. It touched a peak in 1993, when CPIM candidate Rakesh Singha won the seat. 8216;8216;Apart from the university, unions in three city colleges, too, are ruled by the SFI,8217;8217; says Chauhan.

In Shimla, the CPIM has visible support among workers in the hotel industry, the government sector and some academic pockets. 8216;8216;This is an ideological war. Not only is the V-C an RSS man, but Pro-VC N K Sharda and Registrar J B Nadda, too, belong to rightist organisations,8217;8217; says Singha, CPIM district secretary and CITU president.

SCA president Kuldeep Bharadwaj demands probes into various campus scandals. 8216;8216;The V-C increased the funds for printing question papers from Rs 17 lakh to Rs 77 lakh. But errors continue to appear,8217;8217; he says.

But the V-C claims that he has already asked S.K. Jain, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, to inquire into the errors in question papers. 8216;8216;The SCA and the SFI are merely exploiting the university for political reasons. Certain university officials, too, are involved in the mud-slinging,8217;8217; he adds.