KOLKATA: The death of a first-year student of Jadavpur University under mysterious circumstances has led to a political slugfest between the ruling TMC and the principal opposition party, BJP on Friday as both held each other responsible for the tragedy.
The microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) became the ground for the slugfest.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar accused the state government of failing to curb ragging in colleges.
However, education minister, Bratya Basu retaliated saying the university functions under the direct control of Governor CV Ananda Bose.
“JU incident proves that the West Bengal Government has failed to establish true governance in the education sector," said Majumdar in his message on the microblogging platform. He blamed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for failing to eradicate ragging.
"Shame on WB government.. My deepest condolences with the family of Swapnodeep Kundu,” Majumdar said.
Hitting back at the saffron camp, Basu said that BJP is now finding fault with the state government whenever unfortunate occurrences take place in the state.
The BJP State President, in his haste to blame us, has forgotten that the Jadavpur University is under the direct control of the Governor! So, it is his failure and in turn the failure of his political masters to control this deplorable incident!”
During the tenure of previous governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, the state Assembly passed a Bill replacing the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of all state-run universities but the move could not be implemented as an Act as the Raj Bhavan is still yet to give a nod to it.
Swapnodeep, a resident of Bagula in Nadia got admission to the university on August 3. He was found lying naked on the ground near his hostel room on Wednesday night.
He was rushed to a private hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
His mother said she had received a call after her son attended the first day's classes on Wednesday.
“But he made another call to his mother on Thursday and expressed his fear. He requested to take him back home,” said Swapnodeep’s uncle Arup Kundu.
Shortly after Swapnodeep’s parents lodged a complaint with the police alleging he was a victim of ragging in the hostel, the university authorities chose to take some action on Friday.
The first-year students were segregated from the senior students in a separate building. “Besides, we prohibited the entry of outsiders and former students of the university to the hostels,” said an official of the institution.
