The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition walked out of the Assembly on Wednesday warning the government that rampant nepotism in university appointments had caused a palpable sense of unrest in the sizeable section of well-educated, but less privileged and unemployed youth in the State.
Congress legislator Roji M. John, who piloted an adjournment motion on the issue, spotlighted the controversial appointment of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary K.K. Ragesh’s wife Priya Varghese as associate professor in the department of Malayalam, Kannur University, as a case in point.
Mr. John quoted the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “The first duty of a university is to teach wisdom not trade, character not technicalities.”
Nevertheless, the CPI(M) had bent universities to its will to accommodate the relatives of party apparatchiks in salaried posts. Hundreds of educated unemployed youth felt shut out by the backdoor appointments.
Higher Education Minister R. Bindu said postings in Kannur University were as per norms, and "petty jealousy" had prompted the baseless allegations. Ms. Bindu said the University Grants Commission (UGC) had given a high rating to State universities.
She perceived a conspiracy to open the door for market forces into education by tarnishing public-funded universities. The Opposition had leaned on a few technical errors to try to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Ms. Bindu said universities in State were the last bastions of secularism, liberalism and democracy. Hindutva forces had injected their fascist perspective into the higher education system in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States. Kerala was holding out against the trend. However, the Congress, guided by its soft Hindutva line, wanted otherwise.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan pointed out that the CPI(M) controlled Kannur university had prescribed the works of Sangh Parivar ideologues, including those authored by V.D. Sarvarkar, Deenadayal Upadhyaya and M.S. Golwalkar, for study.
He said Vice Chancellors were merely CPI(M) puppets. Meritocracy has taken a back seat. The CPI(M)'s "invisible stranglehold" on university administration had eroded public trust in the State's higher education system. Students were migrating to universities in other States and countries.
Mr. Satheesan said the government should leave university appointments to the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) to salvage the credibility of the State's heavily bruised higher education system. Speaker M.B. Rajesh denied the adjournment motion.
