Going against the rule of educational institution to be away from the political office, CPI (M) openly organises election campaign and uses varsity resources for political demonstration in the National Institute of Technology, Agartala campus
When whole nation is debating over dirty politics being played in varsity campuses, a rally was organised by the CPI (M) workers in the centrally funded National Institute of Technology (NIT), Agartala campus on May 23. The rally was organised as a counter to the protest by the BJP workers in front of Delhi”s CPI (M)”s office.
This is one of the many instances in which the CPI (M) workers were allowed to freely use the resources and property of NIT Agartala for political demonstration. Earlier on February 16, there was another rally in the campus for local elections in the State. The CPI (M) party also organises a rally throughout the campus, though they don’t solicit any students, their presence is widely felt during the campus. The CPI (M) also retains a party office inside the campus and also just outside one of the gates of NIT Agartala. According to the sources, no political party or their student wing is allowed in NIT campus but the CPI (M) workers have been bossing around at the campus.
This all goes against the rule of educational institution to be away from the political office. The political office also serves as a post to influence polling. The political office inside the campus received complaints from students from NIT Agartala and therefore for the time being it was dysfunctional. However, it reverted back to its previous activities after some time of the closure. It is to be noted that the college authorities don’t take appropriate actions against the Party Office’s activities inside the campus. The appointment of faculty members at NIT Agartala is also questionable given the qualification of the members. The teachers and administration staffs in the campus poses hazard under the political pressure to a healthy learning environment for current students. Most of the appointed members can be traced from being local Tripura residents and from the Jadavpur University Calcutta. The appointments of the faculty member are controlled by the CPI (M). Here, we allege that these groups interfere with the normal working and don’t let “Outsider” work in the university. Here outsider means those who don’t adhere to the same principles as those of CPI (M). It is estimated that 90% of the members are filled with CPI (M) affiliated people and therefore it is required that NIT Agartala should be subjected to an enquiry. The Shopkeepers and the market are also chiefly controlled by the CPI (M). The tenders for the shop of the market is controlled by the party office and the selling of inappropriate products such as Tobacco, Pork, Poultry etc is held inside the campus of NIT Agartala. Tenders in the NIT Agartala are usually rendered to CPI (M) affiliated workers. Due to this, often, the same tender is handed over to a company/organisation even though they perform poor work/service. One of the reasons that Engineering colleges such as IITs/NITs seem to perform better than their peers is due to noninterference of political parties in the day to day matter of the Institute. In order to keep the state of University Education at par with international Standards, it is very essential that such exploitation or influence of political parties should be prohibited and shunned. It is utmost required that the proceedings of faculty appointment, shopkeepers around the campus should be under the jurisdiction of Board of governors of National Institute of Technology, Agartala rather than the CPI (M), Tripura.
Organiser Bureau
