Univ dean joins students’ protest, video goes viral
Dwaipayan.Ghosh@timesgroup.com
26.12.2019
Kolkata: When 63-year-old Pradip Basu was invited to join an anti-CAA rally led by Presidency University students, teachers and non-teaching staff on Tuesday evening, he did not think twice before saying yes to what he felt was a “much needed exercise”.
Less than 24 hours later, when a video of him at the rally went viral, he feels the “repercussion”, if any, is a “little sacrifice” that is “affordable”. That is because, Basu wasn’t just one of the teachers who joined the students in their protest on Tuesday; he happens to be the dean of Humanities and Social sciences at Presidency University.
“I was asked [by the students] to speak twice. I spoke once in the beginning, and once again at Shyambazar. There were no political flags in this protest, not even the Presidency student unions carried their flags. At least 30 other professors joined in along with nonteaching staff,” Basu told TOI on Wednesday.
He said there were several driving factors behind his decision. “How many more days would we be playing safe? Here is a party that is increasingly tending to use religious fascism on its own people. The demonetisation happened. The country’s economy is being slowly controlled by the big capitalists and the rogue ones are fleeing. The students have their semester exams from January 2. Yet when they saw what happened at Jamia Millia and in UP, when they saw the counter protests at Hyderabad and Jadavpur University students approached us to be part of their protest, we had to say yes,” he said.
“I have a family too but if indeed there is any repercussion at all, these are issues for which a little sacrifice is affordable. My students and colleagues who joined the rally share the same thoughts,” Basu said. Basu had earlier taught at the Scottish Church College for 27 years before joining Presidency in 2012 in the Political Science department.
SURPRISE SUPPORT: A clip from the viral video showing Pradip Basu at the protest
Dwaipayan.Ghosh@timesgroup.com
26.12.2019
Kolkata: When 63-year-old Pradip Basu was invited to join an anti-CAA rally led by Presidency University students, teachers and non-teaching staff on Tuesday evening, he did not think twice before saying yes to what he felt was a “much needed exercise”.
Less than 24 hours later, when a video of him at the rally went viral, he feels the “repercussion”, if any, is a “little sacrifice” that is “affordable”. That is because, Basu wasn’t just one of the teachers who joined the students in their protest on Tuesday; he happens to be the dean of Humanities and Social sciences at Presidency University.
“I was asked [by the students] to speak twice. I spoke once in the beginning, and once again at Shyambazar. There were no political flags in this protest, not even the Presidency student unions carried their flags. At least 30 other professors joined in along with nonteaching staff,” Basu told TOI on Wednesday.
He said there were several driving factors behind his decision. “How many more days would we be playing safe? Here is a party that is increasingly tending to use religious fascism on its own people. The demonetisation happened. The country’s economy is being slowly controlled by the big capitalists and the rogue ones are fleeing. The students have their semester exams from January 2. Yet when they saw what happened at Jamia Millia and in UP, when they saw the counter protests at Hyderabad and Jadavpur University students approached us to be part of their protest, we had to say yes,” he said.
“I have a family too but if indeed there is any repercussion at all, these are issues for which a little sacrifice is affordable. My students and colleagues who joined the rally share the same thoughts,” Basu said. Basu had earlier taught at the Scottish Church College for 27 years before joining Presidency in 2012 in the Political Science department.
SURPRISE SUPPORT: A clip from the viral video showing Pradip Basu at the protest
No comments:
Post a Comment