The Dean of Students’ Welfare of the National Institute of Technology, Calicut on Wednesday, January 31, issued a circular, suspending a fourth-year BTech student for participating in a protest on January 22, against the celebration of the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The protest took place inside the campus on the day of the temple inauguration, during which clashes broke out between two groups of students, one that was celebrating the event and another group that was protesting. The protesting students, which included the student who was suspended, shouted slogans and held placards that read, ‘India is not Rama Rajya’.
The circular issued by NIT-C said that the investigation conducted by the institute’s disciplinary committee found that the “unlawful gathering” which involved the suspended student had resulted in “campus unrest” and that he was “solely accountable for inciting unrest within the community, as well as for lowering the esteem of the institute both inside and outside the campus through his irresponsible behaviour”.
The circular also mentioned that the student was a “repeat offender” who had previously engaged in “undesirable activities” inside the campus.
In one of the videos of the incident which TNM managed to access, a mild physical altercation between two sets of students is seen, in which one group can be heard shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ while the other hits back with chants of ‘India is not Rama Rajya’. While several students can be seen taking part in the ruckus, it was only one student who was suspended. According to an alumnus of NIT Calicut, this could also be seen as the institute making an example of the student.
When TNM spoke to the suspended student, he said that he has never faced any disciplinary action before and that terming him a “repeat offender” could be because he was part of a hunger strike in the campus last year against an event that was attended by several RSS leaders and workers.
The student, who is from the Electronics and Communications stream, has been suspended for a period of one year, until January 30, 2025. During this period, he is prohibited from entering the campus, including hostel premises, without the permission of the college authorities.
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