BJP MP and Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Babul Supriyo was heckled at West Bengal’s premier Jadavpur University when he arrived at the campus to attend a seminar organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS. The protest escalated when members of the ABVP ransacked the university offices and set fire to a University gate. Campus politics in Bengal has reached a new low and the violence that marks the current politics of Bengal has also affected university campuses. It is not clear as to why the Union Minister who was accompanied by Agnimitra Paul, a BJP leader, was stopped from entering the University. He was left waiting just inside the gate for about 90 minutes by students who waved black flags and raised slogans that he should retreat. That a University should be afflicted with such abhorrent politics as to prevent an invited guest from attending a seminar is speaks of the complete is deterioration of the academic eco-system. Later, even the Governor of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankhar who rushed to the rescue of Supriyo was prevented from entering Jadavpur University. In this completely lawless situation the law enforcers were missing in action. It almost seems as if they are in collusion with the protestors.
What is unacceptable, however is that an irate Babul Supriyo who took offence at the reportage of the incident by one of Bengal’s leading English newspaper, The Telegraph, called up the editor, R Rajagopal and asked him to apologize for the coverage. Rajagopal refused to oblige since there was nothing untoward that was reported except the bare facts. Supriyo then hurled abusive language including a four-lettered expletive which was recorded by The Telegraph. He accused the editor of being ‘sold out.’ This rowdiness is becoming a trade mark of some BJP ministers, MPs, MLAs and leaders. This time they have targeted a respected editor who has stood his ground and has been an exemplary journalist. Such unruly behaviour against the fourth estate is unwarranted and does not auger well for democracy in the country. Already the media is under stress to conform or perish. The much-touted freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19 (a) of the Indian Constitution is coming under severe threat. And now with ministers leading the charge against the media, the climate of oppression that media is operating in today can only worsen unless media professionals unite to protest this brand of hooliganism by those in positions of authority.