Action against VC sought for vandalism incident in MSU

New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) Prof Shivaji Pannikar, the acting dean of Faculty of Fine Arts of the M S University of Baroda, who was suspended in the wake of the recent attack on an art student, today demanded action against Vice Chancellor of the University Manoj Soni for abdication of responsibility and failure to protect the students and staff.

He said instead of filing a FIR against the VHP activists who were involved in the attack, the VC asked him and students to submit a written apology.

''He had instituted a Commission of Inquiry to frame charges against me. Nudity is a part of our syllabus and what the student Chandramohan had created was part of an academic process. It was not meant for public display. In fact, evaluation of his works was going on when the attackers barged in,'' he told a packed press conference here.

Joining him, historian Romila Thapar and painter Anjolie Ela Menon also condemned the attack on creativity and said it was all pre-meditated.

Criticising the VC's ''unilateral'' decision to suspend the dean, Ms Thapar, who also wrote to the President expressing her concerns, said certain procedures had to be followed before suspending a dean.

''The VC took a unilateral decision and later tried to ratify it through various authorities.'' She also said Universities are not a teaching shops but are laboratories of professional and specialised knowledge. ''Being cutting edge of knowledge, they have the right to experiment with ideas. It is not all about general knowledge.'' Ms Menon also regretted that such attacks on art are becoming common.

''First it was 92-year-old M F Hussain, now it is a young student.

Political parties are resorting to such diversionary tactics to take take the people's attentions from the real problems.

She said the Centre must take up the issue and put a stop to the ''neo-Talibanism'' that is raising its head in modern India.

Challenging the composition of the Commission of Inquiry that had been set up by the Vice Chancellor to probe the incident, a Fine Arts student of the MSU said, ''While a BJP muncipal councillor and a doctor are on the panel, the Committee's convenor is Dean of Law Faculty. None have any knowledge of art education, its programmes, curricula and structure. What credibility do they have to judge whether a piece of art is vulgar or not?'' she asked.

Prof Panniker, who also met the UGC Chairperson today, briefed him about the incident and urged him to look into it.

He also said the attackers led by VHP activist Niraj Jain have got away while the student was arrested by the police for "offending" religious sentiments through his "vulgar" depiction of gods and goddesses. ''What kind of justice is this?'' he said.

UNI