NIT-Calicut Suspends Student For Protesting Against Ram Temple Concecration (facebook image)
The National Institute of Technology Calicut suspended a student for participating in a protest against the celebration of the Ram Temple consecration. The fourth-year B-Tech student named Vyshak Premkumar has been suspended for a year in the name of “unlawful gathering” that resulted in “campus unrest”.
The suspension order was issued by the Dean (student welfare). The suspension order said Premkumar is “solely accountable for inciting unrest” and for “lowering the esteem of the institute both inside and outside the campus”. The student was also banned from entering the institute campus including the hostel premises without permission. The suspension order claim that Vyshak Premkumar is a repeat offender, and was verbally warned for engaging in “undesirable activities that were contrary to the student code of conduct”.
On January 22, when Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya was inaugurated, a group of students attempted to celebrate the event inside the campus by painting saffron-coloured map of India comprising of a bow and arrow. The group call itself ‘Science and Spirituality club’. It was confronted by another group of students with placards that read, “India is not Ram Rajya”.
According to Onmanorama, before Vyshak Premkumar, a student named Kailas had questioned the members of the student group, and was allegedly assaulted. When Premkumar appeared with the placard, it was torn by the members of the group. He then two more times with similar placard, and on third occasion, he was assaulted by the student group, as reported by media.
A group of students rallied behind Premkumar and got engaged in a verbal brawl with the members of the Science and Spirituality student club. The students that supported Vyshak Premkumar also raised the placard which said, “India is not a Ram Rajya”. The group that supported Premkumar said that police who were called to diffuse the tension were hostile towards them, but were not the same against the members of the club.
