All India Students’ Association (AISA) has announced that it will campaign against the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the forthcoming parliamentary elections “since the government did not revoke action initiated against three research scholars of Madurai Kamaraj University”.
At a press meet here on Friday, Sathya Krishnan, State vice-president of the AISA, said the forum would stage a black flag protest when Chief Minister Jayalalithaa visited Madurai for election campaign. “The university dismissed the research scholars without a valid reason. We submitted representations to the Minister for Higher Education, Chief Minister’s Cell and the Governor’s office. But there was no response,” said Mr.Krishnan.
“Now that the Communist parties are not in alliance with the AIADMK, students affiliated to unions of the Left parties are likely to take part in the protest,” he said.
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Research scholars J. Arun and C. Pandiarajan, who were dismissed from the university, said the claims of R. Ramaraj, research guide, that there was no progress in their research works were not true. Mr.Ramaraj had informed at the Academic Council meeting on Wednesday that he recommended some other guide for Mr.Pandiarajan because there was no progress in his research work. They pointed to Mr.Ramaraj’s remarks in the assessment committee report on Mr.Pandiarajan’s work recommending SRF fellowship as his work was “very good.”
Mr.Arun said there was no provision in the university statutes or University Grants Commission regulations wherein a research guide could disengage himself from guiding a scholar. Post-doctoral research scholar P.J. Eswari Pandaranayaka was being victimised because her research guide S. Krishnaswamy was not in the good books of the Vice-Chancellor, he alleged.