A day after the University of Hyderabad (UoH) administration served suspension notices to Prof. Tathagata Sengupta and Prof. K. Y. Ratnam, the two faculty members along with students and teachers sat on a relay hunger strike in protest outside the campus on Tuesday. A senior faculty member has also written to the Vice-Chancellor about the issue, stating that there was no need to ‘criminalise’ dissent in the varsity.
“We are sitting on a hunger strike till our demands are met. Both of us will be here along with students who will be participating,” said Prof. Tathagata Sengupta. He added that they will end their strike only when their demands, which include the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao, are met. The SC/ST and Concerned Faculty Forum in UoH has also demanded that the suspension of Prof. Sengupta and Prof. Ratnam be revoked. It termed the Executive Council’s (EC) decision to suspend them as ‘opportunistic’ and said that it was done in a ‘fit of vindictiveness’.
‘Revoke suspension’
In wake of the suspension, senior faculty member and former dean of the S. N. School of Communication Prof. Vinod Pavarala has reportedly written a letter to vice-chancellor Prof. Appa Rao to revoke the decision, asking to let the judicial process take its own course.
Sources in UoH said that Prof. Pavarala in his letter pointed out that the VC had earlier said that the administration had not filed any charge against the two suspended faculty members, when he had brought up the issue of their arrest on March 22. “He pointed out in his letter that the current suspension is in contradiction to the varsity’s earlier position,” the source revealed. It is learnt that Prof. Pavarala, while stating that he does not support the activities of the two suspended faculty members, mentions that they however have the right to protest peacefully and legally. He also pointed out to Prof. Rao that being present around agitations does not amount to their actions becoming criminal in nature. Asking the administration not to ‘criminalise’ dissent, Prof. Pavarala is learnt to have said that the suspension will affect reconciliatory efforts. by faculty members towards students, after the suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula.
