Kolkata: There have been fierce clashes in the state a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was heckled in Delhi and her Minister Amit Mitra was pushed around by members of the CPM's Students Federation of India. One of Kolkata's top educational institutions, the Presidency University, was allegedly attacked by the Trinamool's students wing. Debojit Thakur, a 22-year-old MA History student, describes what he saw:First of all, let me begin with a little bit of history. In 2010, the Presidency College was converted into university and since that time, student elections have been put on hold here by the state government. The reason they give is that the place has students from both university and college. Also, the Trinamool Congress has no representative here.
When the Trinamool came to power, backlash against 34 years of Left rule started. You may recollect that the Left Front's Student Federation of India (SFI) activist Sudipto Gupta died after an attack; state Finance Minister Amit Mitra was heckled in Delhi day before yesterday in retaliation. There was violence in Kolkata also. And we suffered in that.
The students of Presidency University are known for independent political views. When we heard of the news (of violence), we thought, "
Kuchh bhi ho sakta hai (anything can happen)." We were in our college when at around 11 am, we saw a march by Trinamool people. They were looking for those belonging to the SFI to beat them up.
Suddenly, 50-70 people tried to enter our campus. They tried to break the door, but when they could not, they used gas cutters. Those people then asked us the names of SFI activists, but we did not give any names. So, they attacked us. Even the women students were assaulted, they ran after them and threatened them.
After the incident, we staged a protest outside the college. And that's when the second wave of attack started. And the laboratory was attacked. One of the protesters was carrying a spear and they attacked a student working in the lab and a professor who was assisting him. And the police was just a mute spectator. They only said, "
Upar se order nahi hai (we don't have orders from higher authorities)."
Our Chief Minister said she will look into the matter through her party. How can she say that? She should look into the matter through the government and not party. Even her Industries Minister is saying it's a minor incident. So, we've decided to protest against the state government.
Today, the students' body of our college is meeting for the first time. We have decided that we won't attend any classes. And our teachers and the Vice Chancellor will take part in our protest. All this is fallout of destructive politics of people like Mamata Banerjee and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. We will submit a deputation to the government, Presidency
ka atmasamman khatre me hai.
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