Campus rumpus

In a case unprecedented in the annals of Kerala’s education scene, a college student from an underprivileged background has triggered a bitter tussle between the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF). The youth fronts of the two political groups have jumped into the fray over the fate of engineering student Nirmal Madhav. The fight has spilled on to the streets, leading to violence and police firing.

Nirmal belongs to a poor family of Alappuzha. He secured the 22,787th rank in the 2009 Common Entrance Test and got admitted to the self-financing section of Calicut University Engineering College (CUEC) under the management quota.

He faced severe financial constraints. His father, after an accident, was out of work. His mother drew a meagre salary from a school job. So Nirmal wanted a transfer to a college near his hometown.

He fell easy prey to a leftist Students Federation of India (SFI) activist. Assuring him all help, the latter allegedly collected cash from Nirmal. But when Nirmal realised that the SFI man was taking him for a ride, he demanded a refund.

All hell broke loose. SFI students allegedly began harassing Nirmal, compelling him to give up his demand. Some SFI leaders are accused of ragging Nirmal. In 2010, alleged ragging by SFI forced Nirmal to shift to another college at Punnapra. SFI continued to intimidate him even on the new campus.

Nirmal quit Punnapra as well after two semesters and joined the Government Engineering College, Kozhikode, in blatant violation of norms.

Despite being ranked abysmally low in the entrance test, he was admitted in the merit quota, that too straight to the fifth semester. He was also granted permission to change streams from civil to mechanical engineering and awarded internal marks for the third and fourth semesters in violation of the university norms.

SFI launched a violent strike against Nirmal’s admission. Things came to a head when the students clashed with the police. Violence erupted in Kozhikode Engineering College. The police not only resorted to a lathicharge, the deputy superintendent of police K. Radhakrishna Pillai also fired on the students.

The Kerala Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes. Following an ugly melee in the House, two CPM MLAs, Rajesh and James Mathew, were suspended for two days. Opposition MLAs staged a satyagraha inside the House for 24 hours. The ruling combine alleged that a female watch and ward staff member was manhandled by Mathew and Rajesh.

Meanwhile, Nirmal’s fate continues to hang in the balance although matters seem to have been sorted out at least temporarily. The fear of SFI letting its goons loose on him still haunts him even as the state government goes out of its way to ensure that he is allowed to continue his studies without impediments.

SFI and CPM state that Nirmal’s transfer is against the university’s norms and that is why they oppose it.

The Nirmal Madhav issue was sorted out after Indian Union Muslim League state president Panakkad Hydrali Shihab Thangal declared that he would be given admission to the Thrissur Desamangalam Engineering College.

It was first decided to give him admission in M.E.A. Engineering College, Pattikkadu. That could not materialise since there was no seat vacant there.

Speaking to TSI, SFI state president K.V. Sumesh fires a volley of questions. Claiming that SFI believes in merit-based admission, he asserts that a boy ranked 22,787th can only join a self-financing college. Moreover, how can a student join the fifth semester without appearing for the examinations of the third and fourth semesters? How can someone who studied civil engineering suddenly shift to mechanical engineering?

Sumesh accuses the Kerala government of undermining all established norms. A higher education secretary does not have the authority to relax the rules. Only a vice-chancellor can do so. The committee appointed by the government and headed by Kozhikode district collector recommended backed SFI's stand, Sumesh argues.

Incidentally, the committee has ruled that Nirmal can join the fourth semester only after writing the examinations of the third semester.

But Shafi Parambil, MLA and president of Kerala Students’ Union (KSU), students’ arm of the Congress, has a different version to share with TSI. “The government admitted Nirmal in various colleges only on humanitarian grounds. He had in any case completed the third and fourth semesters in West Hill College,” he says.

Parambil points out that Nirmal had even collected his hall ticket for the examinations. But given the threat to life, how could he have appeared for the examinations? He had scored 74% marks in his second semester examinations.

A case of ragging (in which Nirmal Madhav was the victim) was registered during LDF rule against the college union. Its president and secretary are both SFI leaders. Moreover, during the LDF regime, an IAS officer’s son was admitted in Thiruvananthapuram Barton Hill Engineering College. The boy was from a self-financing college of some other state. MBBS students from North India were admitted too, again during LDF rule.

“So it is quite clear that LDF is not really averse to bending the rules and that it is only against Nirmal Madhav personally,” says Parambil.

The contentious Nirmal Madhav issue has once again brought the continuing political interference in the sphere of education into sharp focus in Kerala.

The question is: should the fate of a single student have been allowed to go out of hand to such an extent? And who will pay for the hardships that Nirmal Madhav has faced over the past two years simply to settle down in a college and pursue an engineering degree?

It would probably be too much to expect meaningful answers from those responsible for the mess.