RBU V-C decides to withdraw his resignation

Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) Vice-Chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Roychowdhury on Saturday decided to withdraw his resignation following controversy during Basanto Utsav, organised on campus.

"I have reconsidered my earlier decision. I am not quitting. I talked to the (State Education) minister and decided to discharge my responsibility as V-C. I was also requested by numerous students not to leave the institute, which became a part of me. Both prompted me to reconsider my decision," the V-C told the PTI.

On Friday, State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee had said that he would not accept Roychowdhury's resignation.

"I had a meeting with Roychowdhury during which I explained to him that it was not his fault. I refused to accept his resignation. After that he decided to withdraw his resignation," Chatterjee said on Saturday.

The Vice-Chancellor had resigned on Friday night after photographs of some youngsters purportedly posing on campus with distorted lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore's songs written on their bodies triggered an uproar, according to sources. One of the photographs doing the rounds on social media shows four women posing with their backs to the camera. Written on their backs using abir (coloured powder) is a combination of cuss words and lyrics from a Rabindra Sangeet – songs written and composed by Tagore. This and several similar photographs were reportedly clicked during the Basanto Utsav organised on the university campus on Thursday.

In the wake of the incident, the V-C had sought to quit.

Earlier on Saturday morning, a section of students had met Roychowdhury and tendered their unconditional apology. They also requested him to reconsider his resignation. A group of RBU professors had warned the state government of not accepting Roychowdhury's resignation, failing which they would stop work from next Wednesday when the Holi holidays end.

Following these developments, Minister Chatterjee held a meeting with Roychowdhury.

Debabrata Das, leader of the RBU's teachers' organisation welcomed this decision.

"Along with the V-C, we are fighting against the entry of outsiders for a long time. So, why will the V-C resign?"

BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya on Saturday expressed shock over the conduct of those young men and women.

"It is a social disease and it is more alarming since a section of the youth of Bengal are distorting Tagore's lines in the most slanderous way while celebrating a festival like Basanto Utsav," Ghosh said.

Bhattacharya also echoed the same sentiments.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of the RSS, claimed that the "misrule" of the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress has caused cultural decay among the youth of West Bengal leading to this incident.

The university authorities filed a complaint with the police following the social media storm.

The V-C had said those found in the photographs were not students of the RBU.

"We have to decide whether to regulate the entry of outsiders to our campuses during the Basanta Utsav from next year," he said.

Sources said Roychowdhury had taken moral responsibility for the incident and sent his resignation to Minister Chatterjee, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also RBU's chancellor, and Higher Education Department secretary R S Shukla.

(Inputs and image from indiaexpress.com)