Visva-Bharati Registrar quits as students’ protest continues

They are demanding reopening of hostels and holding online — as opposed to offline — exams

The Visva-Bharati Registrar on Tuesday put in his papers even as students’ protest continued demanding the reopening of hostels and holding online — as opposed to offline — exams.

The resignation of Ashish Agarwal comes after he and several senior faculty members were gheraoed on Monday evening when they gathered for a meeting. Protesting students did not allow them to leave until late in the night.

“Yes, the Registrar has resigned, pending the acceptance of it by the competent authority. He has asked me to communicate this to the media,” the university PRO told The Hindu. When asked whether Visva-Bharati was considering the demands of the protesting students, he stated, “I am not authorised to comment on this matter.”

Detractors of Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty claim that the Registrar chose to quit because he was unhappy with the situation precipitated by Professor Chakrabarty who, according to them, had chosen to ignore even the order of the Calcutta High Court that offline exams cannot be held unless hostels were reopened.

“This entire unpleasant situation is a creation of the VC and he alone can put an end to it. He should immediately agree to the demands of the students. Their demands are not unreasonable. How many can afford to rent accommodation, and without accommodation, how can they prepare and appear for exams?” a teacher associated with Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association said.

The students — from all political backgrounds now — have been holding protests for two weeks now, boycotting the exams that began on March 11, but what angered them on Monday — leading to the gherao — was the issuance of a notice that absence in an exam would be marked as ‘failure’.

“… Absence in a paper will lead to failure in that part. In addition, he/she will be declared ‘back’ in that part and it would be reflected in the marksheet as well as result sheet,” the circular said.