Bengal: SFI Observes Strike Against Minister’s Car ‘Running Over’ Protesters in Jadavpur Varsity

Kolkata: A strike was observed by students in various university campuses and colleges of West Bengal on Monday, in protest against violence by ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and workers and its students’ wing Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP). The incident took place on March 1, during a protest in Jadavpur University, when state Education Minister Bratya Basu’s car “ran over” students who had gathered to demand immediate student union elections across the state.

The strike was called by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), which also released a photograph and video  if the incident where SFI member Indranuj Roy can be seen under the wheels of the Minister’s car as it drove through the gathered students.  Roy was admitted to hospital with a fracture and head and eye injuries. The minister had come to the university to attend a meeting of WEBCUPA (West Bengal College and University Professors Association), a body of TMC “loyalist” university professors.

On March 1, Jadavpur University students, led by SFI, were peacefully demonstrating against the presence of the education minister in the campus. They were demanding immediate election to student bodies in university and colleges across the state.

In a press release on March 1, the SFI central executive committee compared the incident to the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in 2021, where protesting farmers had been mowed down by a Central minister’s car, leading to the death of five farmers and a journalist. 

“Today, the Education Minister of West Bengal had visited Jadavpur University to attend a meeting convened by the TMC University Teachers' Association. When students peacefully demonstrated and sought to submit deputations demanding immediate students' union elections—a long-standing demand of students across West Bengal—they were met with violence. Student union elections have not been held in West Bengal since 2017, and in Jadavpur University, the last election took place in January 2020.”

SFI alleged that when students were voicing their legitimate demands, TMCP-affiliated goons—many of whom were outsiders—"unleashed brutal attacks. In a shocking display of violence, the Education Minister’s vehicle ran over a protesting student like Lakhimpur Kheri incident (during kisan movement), while hooligans indiscriminately assaulted others, leaving several students injured and hospitalized. The government later falsely claimed that the students had attacked the minister.”

Expressing solidarity with the protesting students of Jadavpur University, the SFI said that its West Bengal unit had called for state-wide protests on March 1-2. followed by a strike across all universities on March 3.

On Monday, a huge solidarity rally by the Left Front was taken out from Sukanta Setu premises to Jadavpur Police Station premises, which was attended by thousands of people from all walks of life.

The incident has sparked outrage in the state. Pabitra Sarkar, former Rabindra Bharati University Vice Chancellor and linguist, told Newsclick that he was shocked by the violence unleashed on the student community by the ruling TMC workers. Terming the incident as “rarest of rare” in West Bengal, “where a minister, himself a former teacher of the same university, mowed down the students of the same university.”

On Monday, there were reports of violence on protesting students and SFI members in different universities, including North Bengal University and Vidyasagar University.

In Vidyasagar University, SFI district president Tanmoy Adhikary was “brutally attacked”, said SFI sources.

Interestingly, the Kolkata Police has refused to lodge complaints, including against the education minister, and instead has named some SFI members as “culprits” in the FIR. They also published a “politically motivated” press release on Sunday against the strike call by SFI.