Meghalaya: NEHU students’ protest enters day 13; civil society body intervenes

Shillong: The hunger strike by students of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), the northeast's oldest Central varsity here, entered its 13th day on Sunday as the agitating students stood firm on their demand to remove "incompetent" and "illegally" appointed officials.

The students are demanding the removal of Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla and four other top officials, including Registrar Col Omkar Singh (Retd) and Deputy Registrar Amit Gupta.

After the VC went on leave till November 29, the acting VC Prof Nirmalendu Saha, has urged the striking students to withdraw their indefinite hunger strike, which has been spearheaded by the North Eastern Hill University Students Union (NEHUSU) since November 5.

The influential Mawlai Town Dorbar (MTD), a traditional societal body under which the NEHU campus falls, has declared that VC Shukla would not be allowed to re-enter the university campus.

After meeting the agitating students at the NEHU campus, MTD President Herlambok War said that VC Shukla must be removed from his position at all costs.

“We do not want the Vice Chancellor to come to NEHU campus after his leave is over. We want to avoid further problems at the varsity. The students’ ongoing agitation, which could harm their health, should not continue because of the incumbent VC,” War told the media.

NEHUSU General Secretary Toniho S. Kharsati said that they would consider the MTD’s appeal to call off their indefinite hunger strike and explore alternative forms of protest.

“We would soon convene the union’s meeting at the earliest to review and decide on the next course of action,” Kharsati told the media.

Earlier Meghalaya Governor and the NEHU’s Chief Rector Chandrashekhar H. Vijayashankar, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, and state’s Education Minister Rakkam A. Sangma appealed to the agitating students to call off their protest.

The Education Minister reaffirmed that the state government and the Centre are committed to the welfare of the students.

Meghalaya Chief Minister earlier said that he briefed the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the ongoing situation in NEHU and urged him to find an amicable solution to this issue.

The NEHU students also wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu detailing the situation in the varsity and sought her intervention to resolve the ongoing imbroglio.

Before going on leave last week, VC Shukla on a number of occasions, urged the students to call off their agitation and hold talks so that normal academic activities could be resumed in the university.

Shukla also assured the agitating students of the formation of an inquiry committee to study the demand for the removal of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar.

NEHUSU General Secretary Toniho S. Kharsati told the media that they are not happy with the clarification of the VC about their demands.

He also said they would continue with their agitation until and unless their demands were accepted by the authorities.

Kharsati claimed that due to the incompetence of all top varsity officials, the NEHU’s rank has slipped 21 points to 101 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking.

He said that the students demanded that all "incompetent" top officials along with those "illegally" appointed must be removed for the interest of the students and the varsity.

"Since the incumbent VC took charge of the University in 2021, no important academic development has taken place, and instead rankings of the important institution have been going down. Incompetent people were appointed in the top position," he said.

The influential North East Students' Organisation (NESO), an apex body of eight students' organisations representing seven NE states, Khasi Students Union’s NEHU unit and the Meghalaya Tribal Teachers' Association are also supporting the protest.