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Editorial

The tale of a 'distant' VC and a 'cornered' campus

Just a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the much-hyped Express train between Varanasi and Varodara named on Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, the girl students of the BHU – the university established by Mahamana more than 100 years ago – were being lathi-charged. And, their fault was that they were raising voice against molestation on the BHU campus. Though the students were not protesting against any political ideology or raising any 'anti-national' slogans, for Vice-Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi, it was the design of the anti-national elements from outside, who wanted to malign the prestige of the university during the Prime Minister's visit to his Lok Sabha constituency. When an undergraduate student residing in Triveni hostel was walking past the Bharat Kala Bhawan, a group of goons accosted her. The BHU security guards, standing only a few metres away, remained a mute spectator and one of them said, "Will you wait to get raped? Just run." The hostel warden also blamed her for walking alone in the evening. When on next day, the victim tried to meet the BHU chief proctor, he said he was busy preparing for the Prime Ministers' two-day visit to Varanasi. When the University administration failed to help the girl, she and her friends staged a peaceful protest on September 22 and September 23, demanding action against the accused. For two days they were sitting on dharna and nobody paid any attention. Then what happened on Saturday midnight that the VC felt the urgency to unleash the brute force on the girls? Was the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath aware with the orders of the lathi-charge? Had the VC, who himself loves to be called an RSS activist,

When the University administration failed to help the girl, she and her friends staged a peaceful protest on September 22 and September 23, demanding action against the accused. For two days they were sitting on dharna and nobody paid any attention. Then what happened on Saturday midnight that the VC felt the urgency to unleash the brute force on the girls? Was the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath aware with the orders of the lathi-charge? Had the VC, who himself loves to be called an RSS activist, realise the magnitude of this action in a VVIP constituency? And, what a time the VC had chosen: Navaratra, the festival to propitiate Goddess of power! So when the entire country is celebrating Navratri and invoking Goddess Durga, how can Banaras 'Hindu' University chief order lathi-charge against girls? And, when the VC said that he can't go streets to meet the students, it indicates that he was least bothered for the safety of the girls there. Not only that, he even blamed the girls for their demand for non-vegetarian foods, claiming, "Consumption of non-vegetarian food makes women impure according to the Malviya values." He also tried to politicise the issue when he said, "The molestation was done to trigger the fiasco kyonki pradhanmantri aane waale the." Remember the BHU girls didn't organise any 'Pinjra Tod' campaign against hostel timings, rather they were demanding action against the miscreants. And what they got was retribution, a brutal one. The police action in BHU was also deplorable. The sight of policemen rushing into a campus tarnishes the idea of what a university should be. But what forced the police to beat those unarmed university girls protesting and holding up hand-written posters for their MP, also the PM, to meet them. It is really ironical that the 100-year-old institute, which is home to some of the best research facilities in the world, is now being ruled over by the group of people, who want to rule the campus their own agendas. What is more saddening that when those girls were demonstrating to meet their 'charismatic' PM with their memorandum, the administration changed his route to reach the temple for offering prayer to Goddess Durga. Sample one of the slogans of the protestors: "Ganga maiyaa ki safayi karne aate hai aur jo gandagi ganga ma ki betiyo ko pareshaan kar rahi hai uska kuch nahi. Modiji hamse milne

What is more saddening that when those girls were demonstrating to meet their 'charismatic' PM with their memorandum, the administration changed his route to reach the temple for offering prayer to Goddess Durga. Sample one of the slogans of the protestors: "Ganga maiyaa ki safayi karne aate hai aur jo gandagi ganga ma ki betiyo ko pareshaan kar rahi hai uska kuch nahi. Modiji hamse milne aao (He comes to clean the Ganges but what about those who are violating the daughters of the Ganga? Narendra Modi, come and meet us)." Sadly, neither the VC nor the district authorities thought for a moment it would be a better mode to calm down the protest if the PM meets those 'real Goddesses'. Nonetheless, with an administration ruled by an openly sexist man who governs the institution with an iron hand and does not hesitate to break the protocol to participate in a political gathering of the Prime Minister, nobody can stop the anger festering among students that milne aao (He comes to clean the Ganges but what about those who are violating the daughters of the Ganga? Narendra Modi, come and meet us)." Sadly, neither the VC nor the district authorities thought for a moment it would be a better mode to calm down the protest if the PM meets those 'real Goddesses'. Nonetheless, with an administration ruled by an openly sexist man who governs the institution with an iron hand and does not hesitate to break the protocol to participate in a political gathering of the Prime Minister, nobody can stop the anger festering among students that hamse milne aao (He comes to clean the Ganges but what about those who are violating the daughters of the Ganga? Narendra Modi, come and meet us)." Sadly, neither the VC nor the district authorities thought for a moment it would be a better mode to calm down the protest if the PM meets those 'real Goddesses'. Nonetheless, with an administration ruled by an openly sexist man who governs the institution with an iron hand and does not hesitate to break the protocol to participate in a political gathering of the Prime Minister, nobody can stop the anger festering among students that is going to boil and spill over.

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