Kasaragod: Minister for Higher Education R Bindu on Thursday removed Kasaragod Government College principal in-charge M Rema from her post following her bitter tiff with the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of CPM.
In a Facebook post, the minister said she has asked the principal secretary to direct the director of collegiate education to take steps to remove Rema from the post.
The action was taken after she locked up students who came to complain to her about drinking water, in her chamber on Monday.
On Thursday, the SFI staged a protest demanding her removal following which the Staff Council agreed to shut the college till Monday.
Rema had refused to step down as principal in-charge in the meeting but agreed to call a meeting of all stakeholders, including student organizations, to resolve the issue on Friday.
But the minister's surgical strike has made the meeting almost redundant.
Kasaragod Government College has been in the throes of a bitter conflict between the students and "an uncouth" principal in-charge Rema for months.
The latest issue was over Rema's alleged reluctance in servicing two RO filters on the campus.
"The principal in-charge has been uncouth in dealing with our concerns. We want her removed from the post," said Akshay M K, a student of the Department of Arabic and unit secretary of SFI in the college.
On February 20, Monday, students found the drinking water from the two RO filters turbid. (The two water filters, sponsored by the PTA in 2019-2020, are installed in a shabby corner of the college.)
Around 15 student members of SFI took up the issue with Rema in the Principal's Chamber. "The water was muddy. We asked the principal to get the filter cleaned and the water tested," said Akshay.
But she reportedly said she did not have time for that and asked the students to drink the same water, he said.
When the students refused to leave the principal's office, she locked the chamber from the outside and left around noon. She returned at 2 pm.
Later, the police were called in and the principal in-charge reportedly agreed to send the water sample for testing by 10 am on Tuesday.
"When that did not happen, we went to meet her again. But her attitude was shocking," said Akshay.
In a video released by the students, Rema can be heard saying: "Yesterday you left in humiliation. Today, you will be humiliated again."
She also reportedly told students that they did not have the right to sit and talk to her. She insisted that students should stand and address her.
The students then put a sticker on the RO filter saying the water was not fit for consumption.
The sticker went missing on Wednesday. The students spent their time writing to Higher Education Minister R Bindu and Kannur University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Gopinath Ravindran asking them to remove Rema from the post of principal in-charge.
They also wrote to the State Human Rights Commission and Chintha Jerome's Kerala State Youth Commission.
On Thursday, supporters of the SFI launched a protest demanding the removal of Rema as the principal in-charge.
In October 2021, Mohammed Sanad (19), a second-year BA Economics student, accused Rema of forcing him to fall at her feet and apologise for allegedly threatening her.
Sanad had said that she made him hold her feet with both hands and apologise thrice if she did not have to not report him to the police.
Jabir Shibin -- a computer science student and the then president of the Muslim Students' Federation (MSF) in the college -- had also filed a police complaint against Rema alleging she used to humiliate him by publicly mocking his short height.
In November 2021, Rema filed a counter-complaint against Sanad accusing him of trying to outrage her modesty. She had alleged Sanad waylaid her, pulled off her sari, and attempted to slap her face on October 15, 2021.
Rema had told this reporter that she filed her complaint in November because "the MSF ran a fake campaign against her".
The police registered an FIR based on Rema's complaint.
In January 2022, Kasaragod town police booked 32 students, including five MSF leaders, again for allegedly trying to assault Rema.
After the fight with MSF, Rema stepped down as principal in-charge and Hari Kurup of the Department of Economics became the principal in-charge. The college saw a peaceful tenure till he retired on April 30. "During this period, our college organised a successful and peaceful university youth festival," said Akshay.
After Kurup retired, Rema returned as principal in-charge and the pot was stirred again.
A victim of campus politics?
Several teachers agreed that Rema was tactless in handling issues of the students. But they said she was also a victim of campus politics.
In October and November 2021, the SFI was controlling the Students Union, and the MSF took a belligerent stance against the principal.
In the next college election, the MSF-KSU combine routed the SFI in the election.
Now the SFI is gearing up for the next election. "The minister's decision to remove Rema from the post will give a big boost to the SFI campaign in the next college election," said a teacher.
