The row over undue delay on the part of the Kerala government in acting on the alleged discrimination at K R Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts in Kottayam district in Kerala has aggravated further with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and a senior leader of the ruling CPM openly backing veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who is the chairman of the institute.
Even as an inquiry report of a two-member panel on the allegation was pending with the government, the Chief Minister praised Gopalakrishnan by terming him one of the great filmmakers and ambassadors of Malayalam cinema. He was speaking after presenting an award for CPM mouthpiece Deshabhimani to Gopalakrishnan on Wednesday.
CPM politburo member M A Baby backed Gopalakrishnan in a social media post on Tuesday. "Terming Gopalakrishnan as a casteist was ridiculous. If someone thinks that unleashing a campaign against Gopalakrishnan was a revolutionary act they should learn the basics of politics," Baby said in the post.
Students and a section of staff of the institute are on strike since December 5 demanding the resignation of institute director Shankar Mohan alleging discrimination towards students from backward communities by denying admission and ill-treatment of women cleaning staff. Gopalakrishnan invited the ire of the students not just for justifying Mohan but also for making insulting remarks against the agitating students and staff.
The remarks of the Chief Minister and CPM leader raised concerns that the government was trying to protect Mohan and Gopalakrishnan who have been justifying him. Government sources however told DH that a decision on the inquiry report would come later this week.
The institute students' council chairman Sreedev Suprakash said that they did not want to give political colour to the stir and hence did not react to the senior CPM leader's post. "We are hopeful that the communist government would take a favourable decision on our genuine grievances," he said.
A panel constituted by the State's Higher Education Minister R Bindu gave a report in December itself. But the government again appointed a panel comprising former chief secretary K Jayakumar and National University of Advanced Legal Studies former vice-chancellor N K Jayakumar. The committee had given a 'comprehensive' report to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last Friday. Still, the government's inaction was continuing.
In an alleged bid to suppress the stir, the institute was also shut down last month. The stir has already received much attention with many noted filmmakers, including many left-lenient, expressing solidarity.