A video of a heated exchange between Chittagong University vice-chancellor Professor Muhammad Yeahia Akhter and several agitated students, centring promotion of a teacher, has gone viral on social media.
Some of the agitated students were seen shouting at the vice-chancellor: ‘You did not come here by your own eligibility. We placed you in this position.’
Refuting the claim, the visibly uncomfortable vice-chancellor replied, ‘No, watch our work first.’
A four-minute long video of the incident which occurred on Friday was widely circulated on social media from Saturday morning.
The vice-chancellor could not be reached for his comments.
The incident started when the university administration arranged an interview of its Sanskrit department assistant professor Kushal Baran Chakraborty on Friday over his promotion.The agitated students alleged that the assistant professor was named in an attempted murder case and listed as the 20th accused in the charge-sheet.
They argued that no promotion should proceed while a fact-finding committee investigated the charges against him.
From Friday afternoon, activists from Islami Chhatra Shibir, Islami Chhatra Andolon, and Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad began gathering in front of the university’s administrative building.
At about 4:00pm, the protesters, including Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad central joint convener Khan Talat Mahmud, locked the gates of the administrative building, demanding the cancellation of the promotion board and immediate dismissal of the assistant professor.
When Kushal Baran arrived at the vice-chancellor’s office for his scheduled interview, the protesters confined him in another room in the building.
He was later escorted to home by the university administration around 7:00pm.
‘A group deliberately created a mob to harass me. They’ve been spreading false propaganda against me for several days,’ Kushal Baran alleged.
‘It seems speaking up about minority issues has become my crime,’ he added.
Later several students entered the vice-chancellor’s office and the heated exchange, the clip of which went viral, took place.
In the video the university’s Islami Chhatra Shibir unit former leader Sakhawat Hossain is seen telling the vice-chancellor, ‘You did not come here by your eligibility. We placed you in this position.’
Echoing him, CU history department student Tahsan Habib said, ‘we put you in this position and you have to listen to us.’
He also said, ‘You promised to work in the interest of the students, to stand against fascism. Have you kept a single promise?’
Mohammad Ali, secretary of the CU Islami Chhatra Shibir unit, alleged that the assistant professor was a collaborator of fascist forces who spread false propaganda abroad claiming that minorities were persecuted in the country.
The university administration has informed them that the matter would be tabled at the upcoming syndicate meeting scheduled for July 24, the agitated students added.SOURCE : NEWAGE