Minister for the Welfare of Scheduled Castes K Radhakrishnan on Monday asked a Dalit research scholar of Mahatma Gandhi University to call off her indefinite hunger strike as the government had met her biggest demand: the removal of the accused, Nandakumar Kalarikkal, from the post of the Director of International and Inter University Centre for Nano Science and Technology (IIUCNN).
There was a clear disapproval of the research scholar's behaviour. "What interests motivate the student to carry on with the strike even after the director has been removed and the vice chancellor himself had taken on the mantle of the director, " Radhakrishnan told the Assembly on Monday. He was standing in for Higher Education Minister R Bindhu who is down with COVID-19. The student, Deepa P Mohanan, has been on a hunger fast near the main entrance of the University since October 29.
On November 7, after the Higher Education Minister made it abundantly clear that the director's removal was non-negotiable, the MG University had no choice but to ask Nandakumar to step down.
However, the LDF government has not taken kindly to the research scholar continuing with her protest. "She originally wanted the accused person to be removed from the director's post. Now that this has been done, the protesters want him terminated from service, " the minister said, a clear hint that the government had no intention of doing so. "These are things that could be done only after adhering to statutes, " Radhakrishnan said.
The minister was responding to a Submission raised by Opposition Leader V D Satheesan. The Opposition Leader said the caste oppression was so stifling that the student had to file a writ petition in the High Court to get the University to open the lab for her. He said a fact-finding committee appointed by the MG University had also confirmed that the student was subjected to the worst forms of caste discrimination. "Yet, no action was taken," Satheesan said.
The Opposition Leader said that the student had lost six years as a consequence of such discrimination. She joined as research scholar at IIUCNN in 2014. She had secured her MPhil from the same Institute in 2012. Nandakumar was joint director when she joined IIUCNN for research in 2014.
"When she submitted her thesis, she was told that it was plagiarised. She was also told that such high academic pursuits was not for the scheduled castes, " he said.
Satheesan also said that the vice chancellor taking over the functions of the IIUCNN director was not a matter of great relief either. "This VC was once the director of IIUCNN and had then supported the discriminatory behaviour of the accused, " Satheesan said.
Radhakrishnan said that the government had always stood by the research scholar. The Higher Education minister herself had personally intervened to get justice for the Dalit scholar.
It is a fact that the Higher Education minister had forced the hand of a highly reluctant MG University. Bindu had stood with the Dalit research scholar all this while.
When the agitating scholar had refused to end her protest even after a personal assurance from the VC, Sabu Thomas, minister Bindu was sensitive to the requirements of the research student. "She has kept on with her struggle because of the refusal of the University to act against the accused teacher," Bindu noted in her Facebook post on November 6. "We have asked what prevents the University from removing the accused from the post of director and initiate a probe into the complaints. If the decision to remove the accused is delayed even further, directions will be given to the University authorities to keep the accused teacher out, " the minister said. The very next day, on November 7, the University acted.
Now, the University, as well as the government, blame the agitating student for the delay in completing her research. Radhakrishnan told the Assembly that she should have completed her research by 2019.
The VC, in a press release on November 6, said that Deepa Mohanan had not submitted her research progress report, which has to be done every six months. The research scholar, however, said she could not do her work as Nandakumar had denied her access to the Institute's laboratory and also deprived her of the necessary materials, like chemicals, required for her research. The VC has now appointed a new committee to look into Deepa's complaints afresh.
