AP Pandey : Central to all the issues :: At stake : Future of students
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 24 2018 -

Secretary general of DESAM Oinam Shital narrowly escaping death with his shoulder fractured, after coming under the wheel of an oil tanker during a scuffle with policemen just outside the BJP office on July 16.

A number of students hurt in stand off with policemen in the intensified stir after what happened on July 16.

Manipur University paralysed for more than 50 days now with all colleges affiliated to it unable to declare the examination results of the students.

48 hours bandh total with all sections of the people adhering to the bandh call of MUSU. Tribal students coming out openly against the stand adopted by MUSU, MUTA and MUSA.

Pitched battles between protesters and policemen at different points along Thangmeiband following the declaration of MUSU that they would disrupt the second and last day sitting of the Monsoon session of the Assembly on the MU crisis on July 23.

And Professor Adya Prasad Pandey is the man central to all the cases just mentioned here.

The question is, how long will the Union HRD Ministry allow the situation to fester.

Remember MUTA has already announced that they would not extend co-operation to the probe panel named by the HRD Ministry on the ground that some members of the probe team are supposed to be close to the VC.

Intrinsic in the stand of MUTA is the point that they do not trust the probe team to do justice to the matter.

What is the way forward ? No easy answer here, but as the man who is central to the issue here, it would be in the fitness of things for Professor Adya Prasad Pandey to throw in the towel, keeping in mind the future of the students.

This should not be a question of who wins and who loses, but more about thinking of the future of the young students.

And as repeated many times in this column it would be in the fitness of things for all to remember why Professor Adya Prasad Pandey was first sent here as the VC of MU. If at all there are any lessons to be learnt then this is the right opportunity.

It is the infighting which left the doors wide open for the Centre to step in and send a man of their choice to MU. The result is there for all to see today.

And as things stand today, the Centre is not likely to remove the VC as that would be seen as capitulating to the pressure mounted for his removal.

Moreover it stands that he is a man chosen by the Centre and hence someone who is deemed to be close to the Parivar.

These are facts that cannot be ignored or brushed aside.

Yet despite this, there still remains the question of whether the BJP can afford to play around with the future of the students.

It is a question of one man versus the collective stand of quite a large number of students and teachers of MU.

Will not be politically correct to over ride the wishes of the people, particularly more so when Lok Sabha election is so near and the BJP has embarked on a Congress Mukt mission in the North East.

Yes political considerations have to be kept in mind and it basically boils down to the question of winning or losing elections.

How long can the impasse be allowed to linger, for what is at stake here is the career of thousands of students.

This is a point which the teacher in Adya Prasad Pandey should not ignore.