Uproar over attack on Bihar academic

For alleged anti-Vajpayee post

The victim was allegedly attacked for his comment on a friend’s social media post over the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Sanjay Kumar lay motionless on bed number 24 of the overcrowded emergency ward at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Saturday morning. His father-in-law and a few friends stood by his rusted iron bed, waiting to help.

Mr. Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Mahatma Gandhi Central University (MGCU), Motihari, in East Champaran district of Bihar.

On Friday, he was dragged from his third floor apartment by a gang of goons, brutally assaulted with sticks, rods and fists, and nearly lynched. The attackers were allegedly Hindutva activists patronised by the Vice-Chancellor of the university.

‘Utter shock’

“The attackers even tried to set him on fire,” his colleague, Assistant Professor Mritunjay Kumar Yadavendu, who witnessed the attack, told

The Hindu . “He is in utter shock and pain.”

A section of Professors at the MGCU have been protesting against Vice-Chancellor Arvind Kumar Agrawal for his “fascist and dictatorial attitude in running the University” from May 29.

Mr. Kumar was allegedly attacked for his comment on a friend’s social media post over the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“ Bhartiya fasiwad ka ek yug samapt hua…Atalji anant yatra per nikal chuke . RIP. [It’s the end of an Indian Fascist era. Atal ji has gone on an unending journey. RIP],” commented Sanjay Kumar on his friend’s post, which had said, “Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a Sanghi and not a Nehruvian. His oratory skills made Hindutva politics a ‘sexy’ thing for Indian middle class. Calling him Nehruvian is a misreading of history.”

Call for support

In a press statement, the Motihari Central University Teachers Association strongly condemned the incident and appealed to all teachers associations of the country to support them.

“If anything untoward happens to any teacher of the University, the V-C will be held responsible for this,” said the two-page press statement.

Leaders of the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Left parties, and other social and political organisations, visited Mr. Kumar at the PMCH.