The High Court order does not exactly match the gossips doing the rounds and outrage over the matter. Worse, even a section of mainstream media has got it wrong.
Bhubaneswar: Utkal University, which has contributed a lot to the development of Odisha, is mired in a controversy over a statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge. The row began when a Twitter handle Hindu Legal Cell claimed that the Odisha High Court had ordered removal of the idol.
Utkal University is a prominent institution in India. HC now ordered to remove Sarswati idol which was it's entry gate to campus. pic.twitter.com/4NJg2XZOpt
— Hindu Legal Cell (@hindulegalcell)This claim is questionable.
The statue has stood at the main gate of Utkal University for years together. While it doesn't seem to pose any problem to many, Bhubaneswar resident B Ramachandra, 71, filed a PIL requesting the idol’s removal on July 20, 2015. In his petition, Ramachandra took umbrage at the existence of any “religious” structure in the premises of the institution.
While the Saraswati idol at the gate has made news headlines, Ramachandra has problems with as many as 21 temples in the 400-acre land of the varsity. The reason is understandable. Ramachandra is the general secretary of to a little-known rationalist political organisation called Free Thought Party.
Despite Odisha being a Hindu-majority State, the idea that the minority might take exception to what could appear to them an imposition of the dominant culture, which militates against their faiths, seems to have inspired the PIL.
Interestingly, Utkal University is also known as Vani Vihar, where Vani stands for Goddess Saraswati, symbolising education and learning and this makes it all the more appropriate to have an idol of the deity at the front gate.
MyNation spoke to Santosh Tripathy, a professor of personnel and industrial management at the university, regarding the ongoing row.
When asked about any written communication from Orissa High Court, he said that no message has been received yet, further stating that it was from the newspapers that they came to know about some people raising the statue issue and branding the university as “non-secular”.
Prof Tripathy elaborated on the importance of placing the statue. “In the first place, it was to emphasise the dominance of an educational environment and not the promotion of Hinduism,” he reasoned.
The professor said there was a “misconception” in the minds of some people.
On being asked about whether the High Court has left the decision to the Vice-Chancellor, as suggested by our sources, he mentioned having heard two versions. “Some say the High Court has questioned the Vice-Chancellor why the statue has not been removed yet. Others say the court has refused to intervene in the matter, leaving the decision to the Vice-Chancellor,” he said.
The second version — corroborated by The Telegraph report dated August 30 — sounds more credible because not an individual but several professors as well as students have got that message from various sources. However, what the court actually said is distinct from both the versions.
The division bench of Chief Justice KS Jhaveri and Justice Indrajit Mahanty said, “Considering the limited nature of grievance and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the writ petition is disposed of directing the vice-chancellor of Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, to consider and dispose of the representation of the petitioner as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order.”
Prof Tripathy spoke about the demonstrations and protests held by students at the university in favour of retaining the statue. ABVP’s national secretary Avilash Panda opined that students’ power would triumph and the statue would remain. “The university has a rich history and never has it faced any protests from students,” the student leader told MyNation.
On being asked about the next step planned by the students in case the Vice-Chancellor decides against the installation, Panda said, “It is not in his powers to remove the statue. The Vice-Chancellor is also incapable of doing things for the betterment of education and students.”
The student leader recalled an instance when students fought for the university and did not allow the government to give a plot of land to Ramadevi Women’s University.
“When the State government wanted to allot 30-acre land to Rama Devi Women’s University inside Utkal University’s campus, it is the students who protested and made sure that not a single inch of the land was given,” Panda said.
This time too, Panda is sure that the verdict would go in students’ favour. He described the current scenario of the university as one where there has been no celebration on account of its completion of 75 years due to the agitation and controversies.
The ABVP has demanded of the university that it immediately file a review petition or to go to the Supreme Court against the judgement, failing which the union would launch a nationwide protest.
Located in Bhubaneswar, Utkal University is the largest affiliating university in the country with 267 affiliated general colleges, 15 law colleges, six medical and pharmacy colleges. It is one of the oldest universities in India.
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