Students Rejoice Withdrawal of Strike
Patna: Aug. 9, 2008
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Students Rejoice Withdrawal of Strike
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Photo by Anupam Singh |
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A day after the Patna High Court ordered withdrawal of the two-month-long strike by the employees of various colleges and universities in Bihar, it was time for the 'hartalis' to celebrate their victory by distributing sweets and playing Holi with Patna University Vice Chancellor Dr. Shyam Lal.
After successfully ignoring the strike for over two months, Shyam Lal, the Vice Chancellor of Patna University personally visited the site of the hunger strike by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-sponsored students and offered them fruit juice while urging them to withdraw their agitation.
Making statements laden with clichés like 'the university is made up of three important ingredients – students, staff, and teachers – and it was imperative to run the colleges with cooperation from each other'; and 'the students must continue to play the role of a watch dog to ensure officials are performing their duties as expected', the VC asked the students on hunger strike to drink juice and break their fast.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state president Upendra Singh Kushwaha also played the role of 'influencing' the students backed by his own party to break their hunger strike.
Bolstered by their success, the students played Holi and distributed sweets among each other. Dr. Shyam Lal joined the fun and called it a huge victory for the student unions comparing their agitation to the students' agitation of the '70s led by Jai Prakash Narayan.
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