Visva Bharati demands CBI probe, central forces after campus violence

Visva Bharati on Tuesday demanded a CBI inquiry into the August 17 campus violence for which it blamed a ruling TMC MLA and some other ruling party leaders, and asserted the prestigious central university will remain closed until the perpetrators are brought to book.

The University has also decided to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention for the deployment of central security forces on its premises, a development that could be a potential flashpoint with the state government. The prime minister is the chancellor of the university.

The vandalism at the prestigious university, founded by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, has snowballed into a major political row, after some ruling TMC supporters and varsity authorities filed police complaints against each other.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar threw his weight behind the university, which accused the local TMC MLA Naresh Barui of masterminding the violence.

Dhankhar Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging her to initiate stern action against the perpetrators as "panic and atmosphere of fear" is prevailing at Santiniketan.

The Birbhum district TMC leadership blamed the vice- chancellor, the university's "arrogant approach", and "outsiders imported by the varsity" for Monday's mayhem.

The heritage university was shut down indefinitely on Monday following violent protests against Visva Bharati's decision to construct a boundary wall around the venue of Poush Mela, a prestigious annual cultural event started more than a century ago.

According to Shyam Singh, the Birbhum district superintendent of police, nine persons have been arrested for the campus violence.

Palpable tension prevailed at the institute with barely any movement seen on Tuesday morning.

The university filed a police complaint against Bauri, the Trinamool Congress MLA from Dubrajpur, who is also a former student of Visva Bharati, and two other TMC leaders, who were present when violence took place.

Bauri denied any involvement and said he was present in the peaceful protest not as a TMC leader but as a former student of the university.

According to police sources, locals have also filed complaints against university officials, including Vice- Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, blaming them for the violence.

Calling the complaints "false", the university demanded their immediate withdrawal.

"Unless the miscreants, who committed vandalism along with TMC leaders at the lead, are booked and until we are at ease through the creation of condition in which the members of the university are free from bodily harm and humiliation, Visva Bharati would remain closed," the university said in a press statement Tuesday evening.

The varsity also demanded that police withdraw the "false FIRs" slapped on the vice-chancellor and other university officials or else campus won't be free from "threat of humiliation and violence".

Police said they have received complaints from both sides and are looking into them.

"The executive council (of the university) has unanimously decided to write to the honourable chancellor (the prime minister) for the deployment of any of the central security forces to deal with security issues on the campus," one of its members told PTI.

Meanwhile, a senior professor of the institution has alleged a group of protesters ransacked his residence early Tuesday, hours after the decision to close the university was announced.

Biplab Lohachowdhury, the head of the university's journalism department, also said he has filed a police complaint and written to the registrar of the institute to intimate him about the incident.

A senior police officer in Birbhum said an FIR has been lodged in the case and the matter is under investigation.

Governor Dhankhar, who expressed his dismay over the turn of events, while urging Banerjee to act tough with the perpetrators of the violence, called it an "organised crime".

"I would urge to take a proactive stance and ensure exemplary consequence to the lawbreakers," he said, adding it was baffling to "note the non-responsive stance" of the police and administration to the appeals of the varsity.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh claimed "vested interests" are trying to grab the land of Visva Bharati in tacit understanding with the local TMC leadership.

Trouble erupted on Monday after the fencing work began on the fair ground, with thousands of protesters vandalising construction equipment and tearing down the main gate.

The Trinamool Congress government condemned the violence but threw its weight behind the protesters.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was against any construction at the site and asked the district administration to convene a meeting of the stakeholders.

The university authorities, however, insisted a fence around the fair venue was required be built to honour an order of the National Green Tribunal, which had on November 1, 2017, said that a "barrier needs to be constructed to demarcate the Mela ground from the university and the locality." University officials said they will hold a 12-hour fast to protest the violence on the campus the date for which will be announced later.