Her speech came as the convention, attended by far more people than the 220โ230 capacity of Jadavpurโs K.P. Basu Memorial Hall, spilled into the area in front of the university’s Gandhi Bhavan. Speakers included Afrin Shilpi, secretary of the universityโs researchersโ association, and SRFTI student Shubham. The gathering raised demands including scrapping the National Education Policy 2020 and withdrawing the NTA, SIR and ISI-related Bills, besides backing the ‘Save Schools, Save Education’ campaign.
The event, however, triggered objections from the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The student organisation emailed university authorities questioning how Bora, an outside political figure, had been allowed to participate on campus.ย
The universityโs registrar Debjit Dutta subsequently informed vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharya that he had not authorised the event. According to Dutta, he learnt about the programme through the media and โwas completely unaware of it prior to thatโ. A permission document addressed to the registrar was reportedly signed by the joint registrar instead.ย
Left activists and supporters escorted Bora from Kolkata airport to Jadavpur amid concerns over possible protests by right-wing groups. The programme was eventually shifted outdoors because of the huge turnout.
On Tuesday, Bora is expected to appear alongside CPI(ML) general-secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya at the Binoy Chowdhury Hall in Harekrishna Konar Bhavan, the office of the Krishak Sabha, for a media interaction on the national political situation and the strategy of the INDIA alliance.
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