Disquiet gripped the Calicut University campus as student protests continued for the third week over the failure of the authorities in addressing issues about hostel admission and computer network.
With the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) rallying behind the students, the public anger at Vice-Chancellor M. Abdul Salam’s moves and actions appeared poised to snowball into a mass unrest on Thursday.
A large number of men and women attended a protest rally taken out by the DYFI on Thursday. The police stopped the march at the university gate.
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Inaugurating the march, DYFI State secretary M. Swaraj said they would be satisfied with nothing short of Dr. Salam’s resignation. DYFI central secretariat member Mohammed Riyas and several other State leaders addressed the gathering.
Students Federation of India (SFI) activists gheraoed Calicut University Examination Controller V.V. George Kutty by locking him inside his office on Thursday. The blockade continued late into the evening.
MLAs P. Sreeramakrishnan and K.K. Latika addressed the striking students on Wednesday.
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Women under the banner of the SFI took out a march to the university administrative block protesting against the lack of safety and security at the women’s hostel.
Meanwhile, Dr. Salam’s alleged willingness to step down from the post in the wake of mounting pressure from various quarters became a topic of discussion in the political circles. Sources in the Education Department, however, brushed aside the resignation talk as yet another gimmick by the Vice-Chancellor.
Syndicate meet todayThe Syndicate is to meet on Friday amid speculation of continued confrontations between the Vice-Chancellor and Syndicate members.