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Egg on face,
Badal retreats on Panjab University issue
Had told Centre to go ahead and take PU out of Punjab’s
hands
WSN Bureau
 CHANDIGARH:
With egg on its face and ash in its mouth, the Parkash Singh Badal
led Punjab Government on Monday was forced to eat its words and
withdraw its consent to relinquish all control and claim over Panjab
University, Chandigarh and convert it into a Central University.
On August 26, CM
Badal had written to India’s Human
Resource Development ministry saying his government had no objection
to making PU a Central University, a move which was slammed by
scholars, academicians, litterateurs, teaching and student community
of Punjab.
“I have written
to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Human Resource
Development Minister Arjun Singh not to grant central university
status to PU,” Badal said on Monday. He said he has revised the
decision because of “misgivings in the minds of the intelligentsia,”
a shameless euphemism that basically meant that the government had
totally misread the people’s sentiments and acted in a way that even
the RSS-BJP could not manage all these years.
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“Kaka ji, we have given one university and got two universities
in turn.” Badal was apparently referring to Punjab’s proposal of
two central varsities but did not realize that protecting
interests of the state and legacy of the world of words was
slightly different from kerb-side bargains in politics that he
has mastered. |
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So much so that
even the Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal had defended the
decision to give up claim and control of PU, Chandigarh. So
blatant and dim-witted was the government’s stance that when a
journalist in Jalandhar asked Badal about it last week, he replied
like a small-time corner store owner, saying, “Kaka ji, we have
given one university and got two universities in turn.” He was
apparently referring to Punjab’s
proposal of two central varsities but did not realize that
protecting interests of the state and legacy of the world of words
was slightly different from kerb-side bargains in politics.
Experts minced
no words in saying that gifting away the university to Centre would
have diluted Punjab’s claims
on Chandigarh.
Panjab
University Vice-Chancellor R C Sobti, widely known to be backed by
the RSS-BJP lobby, had sought Badal’s help in getting a central
status for the university. Even PU staffers had been sitting on a
hunger strike in support of the demand.
The
English-language media with its corporatised outlook and elite
approach, often also tempered by an anti-Punjab editorial stance,
backed the teachers and administrators of PU, but some better
informed and public spirited journalists went all out building up a
campaign. Punjabi daily Ajit’s journalists Baljit Balli and H.S.Bawa
were first off the block, interviewing dozens of scholars and
academicians and helping create a wave.
 Among the Punjab
scholars, academicians and public spirited men who opposed the Badal
government’s initial decision, said such a move would have adversely
affected not only Punjab’s
claims over Chandigarh
but also the university’s commitment to propagation of Punjabi
language, culture and tradition.
They said the
Punjab Government will no doubt save Rs 16 crore every year but will
cause incalculable harm to Punjab.
Some senior
academicians and former vice-chancellors formed a ‘Save Panjab
University Forum’ and met in Ludhiana’s GGN
Khalsa College where former secretary Higher Education, Dr Manmohan
Singh, explained the disadvantages of the central takeover of the
varsity.
Guru Nanak Dev
University former vice-chancellor Dr S.P. Singh said the Panjab
University
had a closely-knit relationship with Punjabi language, culture and
distinct Punjabi identity which would be lost with the Central
status.
Punjabi
University former vice-chancellor Dr. J.S. Puar averted that Central
status to varsity will neither enhance its status nor academic
standard. “It would have dwarfed the university by weaning it away
from its legitimate heritage.”
Other
academicians present were GNDU former pro vice-chancellor Prof
Prithipal Singh, Punjab School Education Board secretary Prof J.S.
Sidhu and former principals of government colleges and schools. Dr
Darshan Singh, a Chandigarh
based scholar often consulted by the SGPC, also strongly opposed the
move.
Some professors
from
Panjab University tried to gain support of Prof Randhir Singh, the
giant among academics in India and a scholar of Marxism, but he
refused saying the PU, Chandigarh
academics were only interested for their narrow gains of salary and
funds, not for any better reason.
 English language
media and employees of PU, Chandigarh lost
no time in celebrating but their glee was short lived as
conscientious lovers of Punjab and Punjabiyat won the day. Raunki
Ram, president of the Panjab University Teachers’ Association, said
he was shocked to know of the government’s changed stand. “Our fight
is to make the university a centre for excellence and we will
continue with our efforts,” he said, almost implying that it was no
more within the abilities of Punjab to have a centre of excellence.
Manjeet Singh,
former PUTA general secretary, said: “The entire teaching community
is shocked by the U-turn taken by a seasoned politician like Parkash
Singh Badal. The government should realize that the matter pertains
to the interest of the students and hence should not politicize the
entire matter. The teachers and the students are left in the lurch
again.” Clearly, this should be a lesson to people like Badal that
they are seen as a band of people incapable of protecting the
interests of students and spirit of excellence.
2 September 2008
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