Kolkata:
The police parked at the entrance of one of Bengal's most famous education institutions, the Presidency University, is meant to reassure students that their campus will not serve as a war zone.
But students point out that the police was there yesterday too, and did nothing as a mob allegedly affiliated to the ruling Trinamool Congress forced its way in. The trespassers were armed with spears and sticks, said witnesses, and beat up students and teachers. A young girl said women students were threatened they would be raped.
"They started beating up whichever students they found, they chased girls, and made obscene remarks. The four policemen here took no action. The staff went down to protect students," said the university's Vice chancellor Malabika Sarkar to NDTV. She said that as the attackers were rushing out of the college, they dropped some of their weapons. "One of the things they dropped was a javelin which shows how dangerous they were," she said. (
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The Trinamool, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has denied any link to the violence, and has, in keeping with tradition, blamed its rival, the Left. "This was a planned attack by the CPM," said Trinamool leader Derek O'Brien to NDTV. He said that unlike the Left, the Trinamool does not have a student wing at Presidency University.
Presidency University, set up in 1817 as a college, is among the jewel crowns of Bengal's history and heritage, with many famous alumni. Its famous Baker Laboratory, which has served as the breeding ground of the country's top physicists, was not spared yesterday.
Ms Banerjee's party has been on a vicious offensive since Tuesday evening, when she was heckled in Delhi by student activists affiliated to the Left. They were protesting against the death of a 22-year-old student in police custody, denounced by Ms Banerjee as "a petty matter." (
Delhi is not safe, says Mamata)
In the last 48 hours, Trinamool workers have struck with punitive force at Left party offices across the state.