The Dibrugarh University Post-Graduate Students' Union on Wednesday called for democratic protests in the wake of a meeting with Assam education minister Ranoj Pegu.
In the meeting, the students' union representatives raised several demands, but were put down by the minister, who was caught on video saying continued protests would lead to imprisonment.
The student body has said that during the meeting, Pegu not only criticised them for holding protests over demands to restore 50 per cent fee concession for undergraduate and postgraduate courses and waiver of admission fees for five-year integrated courses across departments, but also denounced the Assam Movement, which the students said was an insult to the martyrs.
Through an official communication, the organisation said, "The incident not only demeaned the students of Dibrugarh University, but also the entire democratic system. To oppose such behaviour of the education minister, we call on everyone to join democratic protests."
What Happened
Notably, a delegation of the DU-PGSU, including the president, general secretary, magazine editor, literature and fine arts secretary, football secretary and the girls' common room secretary, met with Pegu on Tuesday night at his Dehmaji residence to raise their issues.
However, the meeting did not produce the outcome they had hoped for, according to the students. They alleged that the minister dismissed their demands and made several remarks that they described as insulting and dismissive. They claimed the minister told them that nothing would be granted if they continued to protest or launch agitations.
An alleged video of the meeting surfaced wherein the Education Minister can be heard saying in a stern tone, "Now the government has one new rule, anybody who protests, their work will be stopped for three months, only after that will the work resume," Pegu can allegedly be heard saying.
He is also heard saying, "If the Chief Minister comes to know of this, he will directly ask to put them on hold."
Insult to Assam Movement Martyrs
The students further alleged that during the conversation, the minister made remarks referring to the Assam Movement, reportedly saying that "even after six years of agitation, the movement did not achieve much". They said such statements amounted to an insult to the martyrs of the Assam Movement.
The situation reportedly worsened after the meeting when the students were leaving the minister's residence. The delegation alleged that an individual standing at the gate of the residence insulted them by accusing them of arriving intoxicated, which further angered the student representatives.
Following the meeting, the student leaders expressed strong dissatisfaction and said they would now take the matter to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. They asked whether such behaviour from the Education Minister was acceptable when the state has a "strong Chief Minister" in office and urged the government to review the issue.
Meanwhile, the students said they had already taken several steps earlier to raise their demands regarding the withdrawal of the 50 per cent fee concession and the scrapping of free admissions for five-year integrated courses at the university, but had received no positive response from the authorities.
In the aftermath of the meeting, the union, along with a large number of students, announced that no government representative, including the Education Minister, would be allowed to enter the university campus unless he issued an apology.
'Protest and Go to Jail': Dibrugarh University Students Allege Threat by Ranoj Pegu | Watch Video