Resignation of RBU teachers over ‘racist slurs’ still on hold

Kolkata, June 19 (IANS) The fate of the resignations of department heads of the Rabindra Bharati University over racist slurs targeted against them by Trinamool Congress students wing members is still undecided, an official said on Wednesday.

Alarmed over the developments, state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee visited the campus and assured immediate action. He suggested Vice-Chancellor (VC) Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury to conduct a meeting with the teachers on Wednesday. However, the teachers did not participate in the meeting.

"After our meeting with the Education Minister, we politely requested our VC to give an official statement that our resignations have not been accepted, but we were not given any update about it," Teacher's Council Secretary Debabrata Das told IANS.

Das said they were served an official notice on Wednesday morning which requested the teachers to cooperate and make the meeting successful. It did not mention anything about the resignations, so they are is still "on hold".

"We felt the meeting was planned without any proper agenda. Hence, we conveyed our inability to attend it," Das said.

"The VC has formed an enquiry committee and anyone found guilty will be given staunch punishment. I have requested the teachers to withdraw their resignations," Chatterjee said after visiting the campus.

Four department heads submitted their resignations to the VC on Monday. They also accused some leaders of the non-teaching staff union of insulting them repeatedly. "It is impossible to work like this. We can't continue," said one of the teachers.

However, leaders of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad termed the allegations as baseless and counter-charged that these were only a ruse on the part of the professors to fend off accusations that they did not take classes regularly.

Rabindra Bharati University was established in 1962 to mark the birth centenary of Rabindranath Tagore. Chatterjee said the government would not allow any incident which mars the reputation of the institution.