The protest demonstration and procession by students of University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur (UAS-R), against Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda for his alleged ‘insulting’ and ‘arrogant’ remarks continued for the fourth day on Saturday. Wearing black armbands, holding placards and banners and raising slogans against Mr. Gowda, thousands of students studying various courses in the university took out a rally under a hot sun through the campus, boycotting their classes. They not only demanded a public apology from the Minister, but also demanded his resignation.
The students said they would intensify their agitation if the government did not meet their demands.
“It is a coordinated and collective struggle by students studying in all agricultural universities in the State. Some political leaders have assured us that they would arrange a meeting of students’ leaders with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. If nothing positive emerges from the meeting, we will intensify our agitation till our demands are met,” Sundaresh, a students’ leader, said.
“If a meeting is not arranged with the Chief Minister or no steps are assured to meet our demands at the meeting, we will disrupt university functioning through intensification of our struggle from Monday,” he added.
Their demands included withdrawal of the government decision to allow private players to open agricultural universities, and filling all the vacancies in the Agriculture Department.
Convocation postponed
The sixth convocation that was scheduled to be held on Saturday was postponed at the eleventh hour on Friday evening. Though the university authorities have clarified that the postponement was necessitated by the unavailability of chief guest at the last moment, it was widely viewed that the ongoing agitation against the Agriculture Minister was the main reason for it.
Speaking to The Hindu , Vice Chancellor of UAS-R P.M. Salimath said that chief guest S.L. Mehta, former Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, cancelled his trip at the last moment.
"We can hold the convocation without the presence of Chancellor (Governor) and Pro-Chancellor (Agriculture Minister) with their permission. But we must have the chief guest. Mr. Mehta changed his schedule at the last moment due to some inconvenience and we had to postpone the convocation. The postponement has nothing to do with the ongoing agitation as the students promised to cooperate with us. We will hold it as early as possible,” Mr. Salimath said.
The postponement of the convocation caused inconvenience to students and parents who had come to Raichur from different parts of the State and even outside to take part in the event. They were informed about the postponement only after they reached Raichur on Friday evening.
“I completed my undergraduation from UAS-R and am now pursuing M.Sc in Allahabad. I came to know about the postponement only after I reached Raichur,” a student, Basavaraj, told The Hindu . Bharat J.S., another student who had completed B.Sc in UAS-R and presently studying M.Sc in Hyderabad, told a similar story.
