Kolkata:Â Bringing the curtains down on the four-month-long unrest at Jadavpur University, Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti on Monday resigned from the post following the intervention of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.Â
“The vice chancellor has resigned. Let there be peace in the campus now,” the chief minister said before leaving the campus.
Mamata on Monday met fasting agitators at the campus where parents of the 17 fasting students participated in a 12-hour token hunger strike demanding the removal of Chakrabarti.
Seconds after the chief minister made the announcement of VC’s removal, students broke into loud cheer and welcomed the move. Mamata was accompanied by state Housing Minister Aroop Biswas and Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.
As many as 10 students had begun the hunger strike on January 5, joined by another seven on Monday. While there was serious health deterioration of most of the students, three were hospitalised.
Jadavpur University has been witnessing protests since September over the alleged molestation of a student by seniors on the campus on August 28 last year and Chakrabarti’s refusal to resign.
Students surrounded Chakrabarti’s office in the campus after which he called the police citing threat to his life. The police forcibly removed the students, allegedly dragging them and beating them. Some students were injured in the late night clash.