Presidency closed indefinitely

KOLKATA: The Presidency College was closed sine die on Thursday. Principal Amitava Chatterjee announced his decision and walked out of a gherao by some students around 5.30 am.
Student members of Independent Consolidation (IC) had gheraoed Chatterjee since 11 am on Wednesday demanding expulsion of Ankush Sarkar of the Students Federation of India for allegedly beating up IC member Pushpal Ghosh at the Hindu Hostel.
SFI members met higher education minister Satya Sadhan Chakraborty seeking his intervention for reopening the College. “I have spoken to the principal. Since closing the college was his decision, we cannot intervene. But, we shall see that the college reopens fast and that the students do not suffer,� said Chakraborty.
Subrata Lahiri, head of the department of Hindi, said, “The principal has called a teachers’ council meeting to resolve the matter.�
Students and guardians criticised what they called the principal’s failure to prevent a minor incident from blowing proportions. “Why can’t the principal punish the erring students?� asked the parent of a first-year student.
Meanwhile, members of the IC, the Presidency College Students’ Association, the Students’ Forum of Presidency College and All India Democratic Students Organisation started a hunger-strike in the afternoon. “We want the reopening of the college and Ankush Sarkar’s punishment,� said IC secretary Subhadip Bhattacharya.
Sujoy Roy, general secretary of the SFI-led students’ union, hoped that the college would reopen on Friday. SFI also alleged that outsiders had participated in the gherao.
Besides students of Presidency College, there are boarders from Goenka College, Maulana Azad College and Sanskrit College at the Hindu Hostel. According to IC members, the fracas began at the hostel.
“Since the principal of the Presidency College is the supreme authority of the hostel, all bona fide boarders can go to him with their problem. So, boarders of Goenka College joined us in the gherao,� claimed boarders.