THE administration of the University of Hyderabad under the controversial vice chancellor P Appa Rao is still continuing undemocratic prohibition on entry of visitors, including parents of students and media persons, and members of parliament, academicians and social activists are obstructed and denied entry into the campus, while the students under the banner of Joint Action Committee have given a call for ‘Chalo HCU’ to unions of  students, political parties, mass organisations and the people at large  to come to the University on April 6 to protest against the undemocratic functioning of its administration. The JAC put forth three main demands before the registrar of the university.  False cases foisted on students and members of faculty be withdrawn; the police forces in front of the main gate of the university be removed; the CISF forces deployed in the campus of the university should be withdrawn; since AppanRao has been harassing the students at the instigation of the BJP, the students are not recognising him as VC and as such he should be arrested and removed from the post.

When three CPI(M) members of parliament from Kerala MB Rajesh, PK Biju and A Sampath and social activist Teesta Setalvad came to the University on March 31, they were prevented from entering the campus by the security personnel at the main gate, contending that they had no permission to enter the premises. Addressing the students who gathered there, protesting against the attitude of the administration, Rajesh said they had come to meet the students from Kerala who were subjected to attacks in the University and whose parents were asking about their condition.  The registrar had not responded to the phone call of the MPs seeking entry into the university, he said and made it clear that the VC and registrar would be answerable to the parliament for their actions. The CPI(M) MPs promised to raise  the developments in the university in the parliament. They accused the VC and registrar of acting at the behest of political leaders and harassing and suppressing students belonging to the dalit, minority and weaker sections. They lashed out at the Modi government for deploying military and police forces in the universities, creating a jail-like situation, and charging those who question caste discrimination with sedition. The CPI(M) leaders questioned continuance of Appa Rao as VC when he was the main accused in the case of death of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula. Teesta Setalvad said she had come to the university on the invitation of some of the faculty members to speak on human rights, communal conflicts, etc. She said Rohith’s suicide had galvanised the entire country to fight against casteism, as is evident from protests taking place in different parts of the country.

The next day, Yogendra Yadav, academician and former leader of Aam Aadmi Party, who came with a delegation, faced a similar obstruction from entering the campus of the university. Addressing the students outside the main gate, he said that Appa Rao does not enjoy the trust of the student community on the campus and as such he does not have the moral authority to continue as the VC. Releasing a fact-finding report on the recent developments in the university, state president and general secretary Prof G Laxman and N Narayana Rao of Civil Liberties Committee explained how brutally the police attacked and abused the arrested students and demanded an inquiry into the incidents by a sitting judge and withdrawal of false cases foisted on the students and members of faculty. Only because there were all-round protests, even from forums of human rights abroad, against the developments in the University of Hyderabad, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had shed crocodile tears in the assembly, they alleged. They demanded the CM to answer as to why the state government had sent its police to the university, when it was an issue under the purview of the central government.  Behind the accused VC taking charge again there was a conspiracy of the union ministers B Dattatreya and Smriti Irani, they said.

On April 3, it was the turn of convener of National Alliance of People’s Movement Medha Patkar to be denied entry into the campus of the university. Addressing the students, she said Rohith’s suicide moved the entire country and the rulers are shivering with the kind of movements arising like a cyclone in the country.  Under the Modi regime, communal administration is going on in universities and rights of SCs and STs are becoming a casualty, she said.  She demanded removal of Dattatreya and Smriti Irani from the union cabinet, holding them responsible for the suicide of Rohith, and resignation of Appa Rao, who could not set right the situation in the university. Medha Patkar criticised that, unable to digest victories of the student unions led by the Left and dalit leaders in various universities, the Modi government has been conspiring to grab the unions through the ABVP.  She also felt that the CM Chandrasekhar Rao should interfere in the developments in the university and stand by the students. She released the poster of ‘Chalo HCU’.

Ten Left parties, including the CPI(M) and CPI, extended their support to the ‘Chalo HCU’ call. After holding a meeting at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram on April 4, leaders of these parties, including T Veerabhadram and Ch Venkata Reddy, state secretaries of the CPI(M) and CPI respectively, decided to participate in the ‘Chalo HCU’ and appealed to make it a success. They demanded cancellation of the meeting of academic council of the University of Hyderabad scheduled on April 6, pointing out that the meeting is intended to safeguard the position of P Appa Rao as the VC who is responsible for the cruel police lathicharge and foisting cases on 47 students and faculty members. In a joint statement, the leaders of the Left parties termed it unfortunate that entry of social activists, people’s representatives and the media, to the university is being denied.

The police arrested leaders and cadres of the ten Left parties and several mass organisations when they were going to the Raj Bhavan to lay siege to it, demanding removal of those who are responsible for the suicide of Rohith Vemula from their posts.  Speaking on the occasion, secretary of the national council of CPI, K Narayana, demanded removal of VC Appa Rao and central ministers B Dattatreya and Smriti Irani holding them responsible for the developments in the university. He lashed out at the Modi government for hatching a conspiracy with the ulterior motive of seeing to it that there would be no student union except the ABVP, by harassing leaders of other unions of students in the universities and that Appa Rao is being used as a tool for the same.