The opposition has accused the government of turning educational institutions into extensions of the ruling party.
Kolkata SFI president Md Hasib Hossain said the appointments showed that the government was more interested in political control than democratic administration. “This proves that the BJP government has no intention of holding elections. They do not favour running institutions in a democratic environment. They are seeking to transform these managing committees into extensions of their own party to establish absolute control,” he said.
He also questioned the continuing uncertainty over student union elections, arguing that governing body appointments could become another means of consolidating political influence on campuses.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was equally blunt. “Trinamool and BJP are one and the same. Political encroachment existed then, and it exists now. The change is merely in name — it is old wine in a new bottle,” he said.
AIDSO West Bengal secretary Biswajit Roy also condemned the appointments. “An educational institution cannot be turned into a branch office of a political party,” he said, arguing that governing bodies should instead comprise “wise educationists, patrons of education, and eminent personalities”. He warned that the appointments could encourage the “hegemony of Hindutva politics” and weaken traditions of free thought and secularism in higher education.
RSS student wing ABVP has taken a more cautious position. Kolkata district secretary Swadhin Haldar said the organisation would give the government time to demonstrate that the appointments could work. “This is entirely a government decision. As an independent student organisation, the ABVP wishes to allow the government a few months,” he said. He added that if academic standards were not maintained, “we will launch a movement”.
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh, meanwhile, defended the government’s authority to make the appointments. “The government that the people voted into power will decide who serves on the general body,” he said. “Sit quietly at home and watch what we do; if we make a mistake, you can certainly point it out.”
The BJP had promised to keep politics out of education. With 247 college governing bodies now headed by its elected representatives, critics are asking whether that promise has already been abandoned.
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