"Just imagine, people call you goondas just because you do a littlebit of jumping around. I do not see anything wrong with that." —UP chiefminister Mulayam Singh Yadav at a recent felicitation function at Lucknow University
A vindictive administrative hit back at the V-C. The government ordered a probe into alleged "financial irregularities" committed by the vice-chancellor. Ironically, the complainants were the same goons Ram Prakash had wanted to evict from the campus. There was Ram Singh Rana who faces charges of attempt to murder, extortion and rioting. The others—Vijay Kumar Singh, Vinod Tripathi, Pawan Pandey, Ranjit Baghel and Krishna Mohan—have at least half a dozen cases of heinous crimes pending against them. Two of them had been charged under the Gangsters Act and Goonda Act.
What was most shocking, says Ram Prakash, was that sharp-shooters had got themselves enrolled in the university. "They help student leaders create an atmosphere of terror. Their game is simple—grab the support of political parties and in turn make use of their political backing to wrangle lucrative government contracts and enjoy total immunity from the laws," he says. The V-C decided to suspend as many as 165 student leaders, much to Mulayam's chagrin. SP general secretary Amar Singh issued an ominous warning. "This V-C's days are numbered," he said.
But Ram Prakash is not alone in his campaign to clean up the university. Several members of the 350-strong faculty have decided to back him in his efforts. "We are willing to go along with the V-C because this is the first time in my 20 years here that I see someone displaying grit and determination to bring a totally derailed campus back on the rails," declares Nishi Pandey, English professor and dean of students' welfare. Adds Prof Manoj Dixit of the department of public administration: "If the university's lost glory cannot be restored under the present V-C, then we may as well give up all hope."
The 64-year-old Ram Prakash Singh is absolutely confident about his mission. "Drastic action against undeserving student leaders who should be called criminals has sent the message that from now on no nonsense will be tolerated on the campus; and this also goes for a handful of teachers and non-teaching staff who are hand-in-glove with the rogues," he points out. But he is quick to add that he is not being guided by any politics. "I left a comfortable job in iit Kharagpur to take up this challenge and I do not believe I am giving up," Ram Prakash asserts.
Round one has been won by him. But when the university opens in January the battlelines will be drawn; round two may be tougher for Ram Prakash Singh with the UP assembly elections just round the corner.
