Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan on Friday slammed the LDF government for not appointing a community member as the Vice Chancellor of newly inaugurated Sree Narayana Guru Open University in Kollam.
Alleging that the government has been persistently making key positions inaccessible to backward and Scheduled communities, Mr. Natesan said that the decision was a devastating blow to the community.
“We wanted a person who has studied Sree Narayana philosophy to head the university named after one of the greatest social reformers world has ever seen, but the government simply ignored our demand. It has left the community disappointed and the incident has dented the image of the LDF government,” he said.
First VC
The government had appointed P.M Mubarak Pasha as the first Vice Chancellor of Sree Narayana Guru Open University. Dr. Pasha had served as the Director of the College Development Council and Director of School of Distance Education, at the University of Calicut and also as the Principal of Farook College, Kozhikode.
At present he works as the Head of Governance and Strategic Planning at Oman-based National University of Science and Technology.
Accusing that the government had succumbed to the pressure of minorities and organised religious outfits, the Yogam general secretary said: “There is widespread resentment against the decision and it has also irked some members of the LDF Ministry. The community was offered Pro Vice Vhancellor post with limited powers. It seems they don’t want any Ezhava community member to take key positions.”
Flays Jaleel
He added that Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel had hurt the secular values of the State by appointing an NRI and a resident of Malabar as the first Vice Chancellor disregarding several qualified persons from the community.
“Also, the community organisations were not given any representation during the inauguration of the Guru’s statue in Thiruvananthapuram recently,” he said.
