A tense situation prevailed at Kerala University when Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan arrived to inaugurate the office of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-affiliated workers’ union on the Senate House campus at Palayam on Friday.
The proposed inauguration of the Kerala University Employees Sangh office had run into rough weather when its members allegedly encroached on an unused building which used to function as a National Service Scheme (NSS) office and erected a board outside a day ago.
With protests by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Congress-affiliated unions brewing against the move, university authorities locked the building after clarifying that the Kerala University Employees Sangh had not been granted permission to use the premises.
Notwithstanding such developments, the organisation went ahead with arrangements for the proposed inauguration.
Mr. Muraleedharan reached the campus around 12.30 p.m. amid tight police security in anticipation of demonstrations in support of and against the function. While he was received by Kerala University Vice-Chancellor in-charge Mohanan Kunnummal, other senior officials were conspicuous by their absence on the occasion.
After a brief discussion with the Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Muraleedharan reportedly inaugurated the Kerala University Employees Sangh office remotely from the Deans’ conference hall in the presence of its members.
While he dodged questions about the inauguration speaking to mediapersons later, the Union Minister claimed his visit was aimed at discussing possible collaborations among Kerala University, Kerala University of Health Sciences (of which Prof. Kunnummal is the V-C) and the Central government.
Taking a swipe at the CPI(M), he quipped he was “banned” on the university campus since he was not an “impersonator”. His comment was an apparent reference to the fraud allegedly committed by a former college Principal and a former Students Federation of India (SFI) leader to compete in the university union elections. Adding that the university was not the fiefdom of such sections, Mr. Muraleedharan expressed hope that the V-C would act on a complaint submitted by the Sangh members.
Meanwhile, Prof. Kunnummal sought a report from the Registrar on the details of the other employees’ unions that functioned in the university. The organisations that were affiliated to the CPI(M), Congress, and the CPI have been functioning from offices on the same campus for nearly 50 years, sources said.
The Kerala University Employees’ Union and the Kerala University Teachers’ Association both registered protests against Mr. Muraleedharan’s visit amid controversial circumstances. Such actions that amounted to discrediting the prestige of the institution cannot be tolerated, they added in a joint statement.
