Fresh Row in Bengal as State Education Minister Calls Interim VCS 'slaves'

A fresh row has erupted in West Bengal over the Raj Bhavan-State Secretariat tussle after Education Minister Bratya Basu described the interim Vice-Chancellors appointed by Governor C.V. Ananda Bose as "slaves".

The West Bengal College Teachers’ Association’s general secretary Keshab Bhattacharya said that such comments from a state Minister were expressions of bad taste and culture.

“It is even more unfortunate since the state education minister was a college teacher himself,” he said.

Also criticising the remark, Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association’s general secretary Partha Pratim Roy said: “The Minister has not just insulted the Vice-Chancellors, but the entire academic circle in the state."

Veteran teacher of economics P.K. Mukhopadhyay said Basu can also be taken to court on the basis of his remark.

“Such a comment leads to loss of social prestige for not just the interim vice- chancellors that he targeted but also for the entire academic circle of the state,” he said.

Despite the widespread criticisms, Basu has remained adamant in his stand.

“I have said this as a politician and not as the state education minister. What I have said is nothing as compared to the language and adjectives that are being used about chief minister Mamata Banerjee and our party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Now it is anybody’s freedom to start controversies or debates in the matter,” he said.