No end to Gujarat University syndicate poll controversy

Daali daali us daali pe nazar daali. Modi ne vo kat daali. (Implying that wherever someone sees hope, Modi cuts it down).

 Gujarat University toh che mari aapni, nathi Congress tara baap ni. (Gujarat University is ours,
Congress, it doesn’t belong to your father).

Aa chhe V-C saathe university nu barma (12th day after someone’s death) nu jaman. (This lunch is to mourn the death of Gujarat University)

Vice-Chancellor Dr Mukul Shah’s chamber turned into a battleground for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Monday. While the Congress was protesting against the varsity’s alleged indifference in declaring syndicate elections, the BJP was demanding students’ elections before the syndicate polls.

Slogan-shouting BJP senate and syndicate members submitted a memorandum to Dr Shah seeking senate elections at the earliest. The Congress senate and syndicate members, on the other hand, came up with a novel strategy. In a well-orchestrated charade, they tied a friendship band on the V-C’s wrist and said they wanted to make peace by having lunch with him.

Last Friday, a group of Congressmen had stormed the GU headquarters and gheraoed an official, demanding declaration of senate elections.The Congress members had brought tiffins, and it was not long before Dr Shah’s chamber resembled a picnic party.

The two dozen Congress members opened their lunch boxes and made themselves at home in the V-C’s office, laying their spread out across the wooden floor even as a hapless Dr Shah seethed in frustration.

“Let’s forget about the past. We know you are a good person and are not declaring syndicate elections under pressure from the BJP. Your indecision is akin to denuding democracy. So, we are having lunch with you to mourn the death of democracy at GU,” one of the protesting Congress members, Digvijaysinh Gohil, said addressing the V-C.

Gohil and the other Congress members urged Dr Shah to have lunch with them, but despite his refusal they completed their lunch. Unlike the past, however, it was not a violent protest. In fact, the Congress members even cleaned up the floor after their meal.

However, they never for a minute eased the pressure on Dr Shah. The Congress chorus throughout the lunch was: “So, which date have you fixed for syndicate elections? Don’t act on the orders of BJP bosses.”

A visibly disturbed Dr Shah later told the media, “I have listened to what both political parties had to say, but I have not yet decided what to do.”