Kolkata: Higher education minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay on Thursday said actions like defacing Swami Vivekananda’s photo will not be tolerated in higher educational institutions and the administration will be as strict as necessary. He added that the dept was in touch with the university and the probe report will be submitted to the higher education dept by the university. The report will also be reviewed by the police commissioner and his team, he said.The five-member inquiry committee formed by Presidency University (PU) that is probing the defacing of the ABVP’s banner with Swami Vivekananda’s photo will hold its first meeting immediately after the Durga Puja vacation.The university will reopen on Oct 27. Sources said the chairman of the panel has asked the dean of students to preserve the CCTV footage of the last one month for probe. Students affiliated to ABVP lodged a complaint with PU authorities on Wednesday regarding use of derogatory and abusive words on their banner which had Swami Vivekananda’s photo and demanded strict action.Chattopadhyay said, “The higher education dept is in contact with Presidency University, and the varsity has already formed a probe committee. Within the next 15 days, it will identify those responsible for the act and submit a report to the dept. Instructions have been given to preserve all CCTV footage. A separate complaint has been lodged by ABVP with the police, and Kolkata Police is communicating with the university. The CP and his team will review the university’s internal probe report. The Presidency University will not spare anyone who defaced Swamiji’s picture and wrote such derogatory and abusive words. They will face the strictest punishment. These individuals are not even fit to be students.”The minister spoke of tendencies observed over the past 15 days and cited the example of SRFTI where students vandalised pictures of Bharat Mata and Vivekananda. “We believe these disruptive elements are not actual students. The present govt and its higher education dept want to make it clear to these disruptive elements that such actions will not be tolerated in higher educational institutions, and the administration will be as strict as necessary,” he added.A university source said, “The first meeting of the committee will happen immediately after the campus reopens on Oct 27. The chairman of the panel has asked to preserve the CCTV footage of roughly one month, tentatively from Sept 15. The committee will look at the footage, talk to people to find out the circumstances leading to the incident. Meanwhile, if the members feel, they can also schedule an online meeting during the vacation,” said a source.“We believe that students associated with left-wing politics are behind this. The banner was put up in July at the Main building. It was intact till Tuesday but around 6.30 pm, we found it defaced. Around mid-Sept also, our poster with Swamiji’s photo was torn. We have told the authorities to bring that incident under the purview of probe. We demand that the panel should must a fair probe and strict punishment should be given to those responsible,” said ABVP, PU unit president Mridul Banik.Leftist students’ organisations — SFI, AISA, RSF and AIDSO — in a joint statement said, “We want to make it explicitly clear that no organisational initiative was taken on the part of any of the left organisations to deface the poster, nor do we support any kind of activities which involve tearing or vandalising the posters. We would also like to clarify that this incident should be probed immediately along with the CCTV footage of the incident.”
