ON March 1, higher education minister and TMC leader Bratya Basu visited Jadavpur University for a TMC teachers' organisation event. Student protests erupted, demanding the reinstatement of student union elections, which have been suspended for five years. The situation escalated into violence as students reported a joint attack by TMC and RSS activists. Amidst the protests, Minister Basu attempted to leave promptly in his car. As students chanted slogans, his vehicle accelerated through the crowd, injuring three students – Indranuj Roy, Russell Parvez, and Abhinav Basu – who were hospitalised with serious injuries.

State Education Minister Bratya Basu, also the president of the TMC's teachers' organisation WBCUPA, visited Jadavpur University for an event on March 1. SFI and other left-wing student organisations, who have been demanding student union elections for the past five years, planned to peacefully submit a memorandum to the minister through a five-member delegation.

However, upon learning about this, Basu was taken to the university campus through an alternative route. When attempting to leave, his vehicle sped through the protesting crowd, injuring three students. Later, the minister, accompanied by TMC leaders, tried to justify the incident by raising unrelated issues.

Following this, SFI and other left-wing student organisations expressed their anger by blocking the Jadavpur 8B bus stand. Later, they staged a sit-in at the university's Aurobindo Bhavan, seeking to meet the vice-chancellor, but the VC was unavailable. SFI stated that the university authorities must file a case against the TMC's attack and hooliganism. Subsequently, TMC surrounded SFI workers on the street in front of the university and in front of Jadavpur Police Station until late at night.

Notably, during his time as a minister under Narendra Modi, Babul Supriyo, now a member of the TMC, caused disruption at Jadavpur University. Shankudeb Panda, also now in the BJP, was accused of leading an attack at the same university while he was a TMC leader. Despite their past affiliations and actions, both parties united at the university gate, armed with sticks and rods. Shortly before being injured by Bratya Basu's car, student Indranuj Roy posted on Facebook about this TMC-RSS alliance guarding the gate.

SFI leadership denounced the minister's actions, asserting that they had gone to submit a deputation peacefully and did not want chaos. They accused the TMC of instigating the chaos to stifle demands for student union elections. In a press statement issued by the SFI Jadavpur University local committee, it was stated, "Our clear demand is that the education minister must hold a tripartite meeting with the university students in the presence of the vice-chancellor. Apart from student union elections, our demand is to restore a democratic environment on campus. We had planned our programme accordingly. However, TMC organisations intervened and disrupted everything." In a statement issued by the Jadavpur University Teachers' Association, it was said, "The state education minister was present at Jadavpur University for a party event. Everyone has the democratic right to hold meetings and rallies. However, it is dangerous if it infringes upon or disrespects the democratic rights of others. In reality, they are against democracy. To maintain the ruling party's authority, student union elections and court-council elections are being forcibly stopped despite the existence of laws. These are anti-democratic actions. That is why when the students of our university were expressing their demands, a group of TMC followers and musclemen launched a severe attack in the presence of the minister. Even outsiders were brought in, practically disrupting the peaceful environment inside the university." According to the association, as a result, many students were injured and bloodied. Moreover, the minister's car was driven over Indranuj Roy, a first-year student, leading to his critical hospitalisation. We do not know how to express our protest against this incident. We strongly condemn this incident and demand punishment for the culprits. As a teachers' organisation, we are asking the university authorities to take positive steps in this regard.”

Lying on the hospital bed that night, Indranuj Roy described the incident, saying, "When the minister got into the car and was about to leave, we said, 'Please stop for a moment, we have something to say.' But he didn't listen. The car's pickup increased. We moved back, then started running after the car. As the minister's car increased its pickup, I was thrown off. Somehow, I managed to save my head, but I fell under the wheels. Then the car ran over my left foot. This government is extremely undemocratic and inhumane. Such an attitude of the education minister towards students is despicable!"

UNIVERSITIES

SHUT DOWN

 SFI announced protests on March 1-2, and called for a state-wide student strike on university campuses on March 2. University campuses across West Bengal were paralysed on March 3 by the state-wide student strike that demanded Basu's arrest and resignation, citing accusations of joint violence by TMC and ABVP, police collusion, and attacks on SFI help centers and students at various locations, including Medinipur College, Vidyasagar University, and North Bengal University. The police and certain media outlets, acting under the direction of the Trinamool party, attempted to sow confusion among higher secondary students. Their intention was to create public unrest, despite the SFI's explicit statement that the strike was solely applicable to the university and would not impact the higher secondary examination. The examination proceeded and finished peacefully, notwithstanding the provocation from the Trinamool.

Clashes erupted at Medinipur College as TMC workers, aided by police, attempted to disrupt the strike, resulting in the detention of SFI workers. At North Bengal University,   Tanmoy Adhikari, the district president of SFI  was injured. JUTA's Partha Pratim Roy criticised the government's incompetence, highlighting the lack of formulated governance rules for the university.

At Calcutta University, the strike effectively brought the campus to a standstill, with the exception of examination halls. A joint protest meeting of students, teachers, employees, and researchers featured speeches from CUTA's Professor Sanatan Chattopadhyay, Professor Ram Prahlad Chowdhury, and Professor Debashish Sarkar, SFI state secretary Debanjan Dey, student leaders Malyaban Ganguly, Barnana Mukhopadhyay, and Didhiti Roy. The strike was declared a success, with a zero-tolerance policy against disruptions. 

Students of Presidency University went on strike to show solidarity with Jadavpur University. The demonstrators criticised the alleged violence and oppression of the TMC. Bitan Islam, the unit leader, reminded everyone of the TMC's attacks on Presidency University in 2013 and 2022 and their alleged involvement in the deaths of Sudipta Gupta, Saifuddin Mollah, Anis Khan and others. He declared that the TMC has attacked JU, the state's leading educational institution and that the student community is united against the TMC's autocracy.

Various organisations, including 'Abhaya Mancha,' joined the protests and condemned Basu. A protest meeting was also held at Medical College, which was attended by SFI West Bengal state secretary Debanjan Dey who said that SFI remains steadfast in its commitment to eliminating criminal activities across the state. He commended the students, professors, non-teaching staff, and guardians who participated in the comprehensive student strike despite facing combined assaults, threats, and arrests by the TMC-police.  Dey emphasized that Bratya Basu and the leaders of the criminal network he fostered on campus must be held accountable. Protest activities continued the next day across various state regions without microphones to avoid disruptions to higher secondary examinees.

PROTESTS

CPI(M) state Secretary Mohammad Salim, speaking in Jadavpur on March 2, accused the TMC of arrogance and abuse of power at Jadavpur University, drawing parallels with the BJP's behaviour in other states. He demanded the immediate arrest and charging the state's education minister of attempt to murder, and declared the Party's intent to pursue legal action. Salim made these remarks to journalists during a march from Sukanta Setu More to Jadavpur Police Station. Abhinav Basu, injured by the education minister's car, participated in the march in his wheelchair. Salim questioned why Bratya Basu refused to listen to the students and why individuals with sticks and bottles were present within the university. He criticised the police for their inaction.

CPI(M) Central Committee member, Sujan Chakraborty and DYFI state secretary, Minakshi Mukherjee also addressed the meeting. AIDWA state secretary, Kaninika Ghosh also condemned the violent attack.

Trinamool's counter-narrative alleged that Bratya Basu was attacked by students, leading to attacks on left-wing workers across the state, including the CPI(M) South 24 Parganas district office. Police, acting like "political henchmen," baton-charged a left-wing protest march in the Lake Town-Kalindi area.

SFI's all India joint secretary, Srijan Bhattacharya strongly refuted the allegations that left-wing activists targeted the education minister's residence. He questioned the logic behind such accusations, stating that the left-wing students were protesting at the Jessore Road intersection, not at the minister's residence. He accused those making these claims of intentionally provoking the situation and expressed that they were unnerved by the students' resilience against the combined Trinamool-police assault during the previous day's student strike.