Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition walked out of the Kerala Assembly on August 24, warning the government that rampant nepotism in varsity appointments had caused a palpable sense of restiveness in the sizeable section of well-educated but less-privileged young job aspirants in the State.
Congress legislator, Roji. M. John, who moved the Opposition’s adjournment motion on the issue, highlighted the controversial appointment of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary, K.K. Rajesh, ex-MP, as Associate Professor in the Department of Malayalam, Kannur University (KU) as a case in point
Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan had stayed the appointment recently and issued show-cause notices to the Kannur Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Gopinath Ravindran, and Ms. Varghese. Gov. Khan had also raised a similar charge against the government.
Mr. John quoted late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “The first duty of a university is to teach wisdom, not trade; character, not technicalities.”
Nevertheless, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had bent varsities to its will to accommodate the relatives of party apparatchiks as teaching and non-teaching (temporary) staff. Hundreds of educated but unemployed youth felt shut out by the backdoor appointments.
Higher Education Minister R. Bindu said varsities are autonomous entities, and the government has no say in their functioning, including appointments. “Appointments in Kannur varsity are as per norms. Petty jealousy had prompted the Opposition’s baseless accusations,” she said.
The UGC had given a high rating to State varsities. The Opposition had spotlighted a few technical errors to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Ms. Bindu perceived a conspiracy to open the door for market forces into education by tarnishing public-funded varsities.
Ms. Bindu said Kerala varsities were the last bastions of secularism, liberalism and democracy. Hindutva forces had injected their fascist perspective into the higher education system in the 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. Satheeshan, pointed out that the CPI(M)-controlled Kannur varsity had prescribed the works of Sangh Parivar ideologues, including those authored by V.D. Savarkar, Deenadayal Upadhyaya and M.S. Golwalkar, for study.
He said Vice-Chancellors were merely CPI(M) puppets. Meritocracy has taken a back seat. The decision to extend the tenure of the Kannur Vice-Chancellor beyond retirement age was a case in point.
The CPI(M) ‘s “invisible stranglehold” on varsity administration had eroded public trust in the State’s higher education system. Students were migrating to varsities in other States and countries.
Mr. Satheesan said leaving varsity appointments to the PSC would be a step in the right direction to salvage the credibility of Kerala’s heavily bruised higher education system. Speaker M.B. Rajesh denied the adjournment motion.
