Abhishek Banerjee, All India Trinamool Congress MP and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, courted a fresh controversy on Monday by questioning whether the student protests in Jadavpur University were due to banning of drugs and liquor inside the campus.
" Mod, ganja, charash, banda tai ki pratibade gandha (Is this protest due to the banning of drugs, liquor and charas?" Mr. Banerjee said in a facebook post.
The post from the 27- year- old MP came on the day the student wing of AITC called a protest rally to counter the rally by students on Saturday. The comments by Mr Banerjee invited widespread reactions from different quarters including students.
New probe panel
I n another important development, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee set up a five-member committee to probe the molestation of a student at the University on August 28. It was the irregularities in setting up of the committee to probe the molestation that led to the protest and culminated in police action against the agitating students.
The committee will be headed by Calcutta University, Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das. The other members of the committee are scholar Nrisinghaprosad Bhaduri, Sangeeya Tripathi Mitra, from Bethun College Ananya Chattejee , a teacher from St Xavier’s College and Subiresh Bhattacharya.
Mr Chatterjee said that the committee will submit its report in the next 72 hours. “The victim had demanded intervention of the Chief Minister so we have set up the Committee,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the students at Jadavpur University continued with their protest and the academic activities at the University suffered on the sixth consecutive day. The presence of some police officers in the campus also resulted in speculation that Vice Chancelor Abhijit Chakrabarti wants to join the institution in police protection.
