After violence erupted in the Rastriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Agartala, following a minor conflict relating to donation for Teachers’ Day, around 120 Odia students are living in fear outside the hostels.
After being kept hostage by local students, three Odia Professors namely Ramakanta Mishra, Mahesh Kumar Panigrahi and Jitendra Rayguru reached Odisha on Thursday. Even they were not allowed foods and water for 18 hours in a locked up room. “We were instructed by the university authority to leave Agaratala,” said Professor Ramakanta Mishra, adding that the root of all disputes is the merit strength of Odia students in the campus for which the local students are envious.
Mishra further added that despite 20 per cent quota reserved for Tripura, yet only two students have qualified the entrance test this year. The students want seats even after disqualification in the entrance test, informed Mishra.
Sources said after September 18, the Odia students have left the hostels. They are living in rented rooms in Agartala city. Though the institute is open, however, Odia students have abstained from classes in fear of further attack. Even in apprehensions, they are not able to come outside from rooms for marketing.
The house owners under pressure of local students have asked them to vacate rooms too.
Living in a state of alienation, they have demanded to leave Tripura and get absorbed in Puri campus, besides stern action against the Principal and installation CCTV cameras in the classrooms. Holding the Principal solely responsible, the Odia students alleged that for his partisan stand, a minor conflict snowballed.
“The Principal is solely responsible. From beginning we have been witnessing his partisan attitude against us. He took no action against local students for holding strike without a prior notice. Had he acted on that day, the situation wouldn’t have reached such a level,” said student Diptimayee Pradhan of Baghamunda village of Krusnaprasad.
She said she along with her two mates is spending sleepless nights in a rented room. All they want is to leave Agartala and get admission in Puri Sansthan,” said Diptimayee to The Pioneer.
Narrating a horrible atmosphere there, she informed that the Principal is now putting pressure on them to stay in the campus and keep away from the demands.
Sources said a two-member team consisting of State Higher Education Director B Parmeswaran and VC of Sri Jagannath University Radhamadhab Dash held talks with both Tripura and Odia students on Friday. They also talked to the Government officials of Tripura on security of Odisha students. However, it was learnt from sources that their talks did not yield any results as it is matter of the Central Government.
Notably, for Guru Divas, the local students had collected donations from the Odia students. When local students again collected donation for the Ganesh Puja festival, the Odia students first sought to know about the expenditure on Guru Divas, which enraged the local students.