Nearly 47 days after the students of KR Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science & Arts (KRNNIVSA) launched an agitation, the director of the institute Shankar Mohan has resigned. The students and staff had raised several serious allegations against Shankar Mohan, including discrimination against a Dalit applicant Sarath S in the admission process.
According to media reports, Shankar Mohan reached the office of the Chief Minister and handed over his resignation. A copy of his resignation letter has also been handed over to the Minister for Higher Education. Shankar Mohan has however denied that the resignation was due to the protest. "My term was for two years, it was extended for a year. So my term has ended. The resignation is not because of any of the controversies. Those allegations are anyway false. No one demanded my resignation," he told Asianet News channel.
The students had alleged that as per rules Shankar Mohan can continue in the age only till the age of 65 but was given extension despite being 67. The students launched the protest on December 5, 2022, after sanitation workers in the Institute alleged that they were discriminated against on the basis of caste and were forced to clean toilets in the director’s residence with bare hands. According to TNIE, the report submitted by the probe panel dismissed the director’s stand that the Institute did not have direct control over the admission process and found merit in the students’ allegations that it lacked infrastructure facilities and practical training.
After the protest invited widespread attention during the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram, the government set up a panel to probe the allegations. The panel, consisting of K Jayakumar, former chief secretary, and NK Jayakumar, former vice chancellor, NUALS, submitted its findings to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on January 13. Media reports said the panel found director Shankar Mohan guilty of the charges levelled against him. A postgraduate in ‘Screenplay writing and Film Direction’ from FTII, Pune, Shankar Mohan has worked in the Malayalam film industry as writer, actor, director, and distributor for over a decade. He has also served as director at the Directorate of Film Festivals.
The students had also opposed Shankar Mohan for revising the structure of the PG Diploma course by reducing the duration from three to two years. Prior to 2018, the course was a three-year diploma. In 2018, it was revised as a three-year PG Diploma programme. But during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, that was again revised as a two-year PG Diploma. The students had also alleged that after Shankar Mohan became director, students and alumni representatives of the academic and executive councils were removed. The students were of the view that the admission process in the institute became disadvantageous for a section of students after Shankar Mohan assumed power.
The Institute’s Chairman Adoor Gopalakrishnan too faced protests after he sided with Shankar Mohan and made derogatory remarks against the protesting students and staff and dismissed their allegations as baseless. In response, the student council wrote an open letter to Adoor. “Without even discussing the issue with the students, how can the chairman come to the conclusion that the allegations are fake? We didn’t receive a reply from you when we gave a detailed written complaint,” the letter read, further asking the filmmaker to explain what prompted him to claim that the protesting students’ intention was to close down the institution.
Adoor, through multiple interviews, had made several claims about Shankar Mohan’s efficiency and derided the protesting students and staff. “What is the logic in assuming that a well-meaning man would have a problem with people from marginalised castes? There should be a motive to oppress people based on caste, right?” he said in his latest interview.
The delayed response of the government too had irked many. According to Srredev, they had hoped that the government would take immediate action once they launched the protest. But the apathy shown by the Left government had shocked them. After the appointment of the probe panel, R Bindu, Kerala Minister for Higher Education had assured that the concerns raised by the students would be addressed fairly and had asked them to end the strike. However, the students did not relent to the Minister's request to end the strike. The government had even invited Adoor to inaugurate the government-organised Happiness Film Festival in Kerala. This had prompted sharp criticism from many, with director Jeo Baby withdrawing from the festival in protest.