“It takes a father to understand a son and to lead him to a better future.”

- Michael L. Lawai (General Secretary NEHUSU)

As a follow up on the intricacies of the Vice Chancellor fiasco at the North Eastern Hills University, Eastern Panorama had met up with Kynpham Kharlyngdoh (President, Khasi Students’ Union North Eastern Hills University and Chairman of Meghalaya Tribal Students Coordination Committee) and Michael L. Lawai (General Secretary, North Eastern Hills University Students’ Union) and got their side of the story. The following are excerpts from the interview:

E.P – Why have you called for this agitation and when did it start?

M.L – Ever since the inception of NEHU in 1973, there has been only one indigenous Vice Chancellor. You have seen for yourself the events which took place in NEHU last year. The leaders of the university are insensitive towards the issues of the students. When we see that the people coming from the main part of the country lack interest in taking initiatives to solve the sensitive issues of the students, we realise that a situation is needed where qualified indigenous people should take up the post of Vice Chancellor and to really achieve the mandate of the university which states that the university is in existence to promote the social, economic, intellectual conditions and the cultural advancement of this region. We want to say that according to the definition of the university, the jurisdiction of NEHU includes Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Now Arunachal Pradesh has its own Central University. Therefore, we feel that the main purpose of NEHU now is to serve the people of Meghalaya. Seeing what has happened in the past, we feel that it is high time for another indigenous aspirant with a good academic background to take up the post of Vice Chancellor of NEHU.

E.P – You speak of an indigenous aspirant with a good academic background. Can you recommend any such person?

M.L – That is not up to us. As students, we are not going to promote anyone’s interest. We stand for the interest of the university and the region as a whole. Therefore, we leave such decisions to the wisdom of the Central Government to search for the most eligible indigenous person from the university to take up the post.

E.P – The tenure of the previous Vice Chancellor Professor Pramod Tandon ended on the 12th of September 2010. Were any initiatives taken before that date to look for this indigenous aspirant?

K.K – Even before the agitation was launched, the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and the Meghalaya Tribal Students’ Committee (MTSC) comprising KSU (NEHU), Meghalaya Post Graduate Students’ Union (MPGSU), Achik Post Graduate Students’ Union (APGSU) had voiced out the call for an indigenous Vice Chancellor. This has been voiced out not only by the student community but also by the KSU Central Body and also by the Federation of Khasi, Jaintia, Garo People (FKJGP). We got the message on the 4th of October that the Visitor had appointed Professor A.N. Rai as NEHU’s new Vice Chancellor. On that day itself, all the students at NEHU especially from the MTSC strongly felt that we have been insulted by the Central Government. Like the General Secretary of NEHUSU stated, since 1973, we have had only one indigenous Vice Chancellor. So we decided to hold a public meeting on the 5th of October where we decided as a collective whole that we, the people of the state, have been insulted and thus, we will not allow Professor A.N. Rai to take over as the new Vice Chancellor. Moreover, on the 7th of October, NEHUSU and the student community as a whole had decided to support the MTSC and they organised a public meeting on that day. On the 5th itself, just after the meeting, we had sent a letter to the Visitor and copies to the Ministry concerned which showed our strong opposition of Professor A.N. Rai as the new Vice Chancellor. We as the student community stand strong in not recognising Professor A.N. Rai as the Vice Chancellor of NEHU till this problem is solved. On the 10th of October, all the students of the university had decided to oppose Professor A.N. Rai and on that day we protested in front of his office condemning not only Professor A.N. Rai but also the government at the centre and the state level. We feel that the Centre has insulted the state government and in turn, the state government has insulted the student community at NEHU. We have also found that the Search Committee which has been appointed by Professor Pramod Tandon had been constituted without following the proper procedure and is not according to the statutes of the university. According to the statutes of the university, the members of the Search Committee should not have any links with the university.

M.L – What we found is that two members of this Search Committee indirectly have connections with the university and we feel that their appointment is highly controversial. One of the members namely Mr. J.M. Lyngdoh was given an honourary doctorate by the university during the 2009 Convocation and the other member Mr. R. Chidambaram was the Chief Guest of this same convocation.

E.P – Is the whole student community involved in the agitation?

M.L – This agitation is not the decision of the Executive Council only, it has in fact received the approval of the general students. Before we de recognised Professor A.N. Rai as the Vice Chancellor, we had a general meeting in which the students in general showed that they strongly felt that they can not accept Professor A.N. Rai as the Vice Chancellor. Even before the ‘Non Cooperation Movement’, we had a general meeting of students and there the students agreed that as a sign of protest against this new Vice Chancellor, we will opt for a ‘Non Cooperation Movement’.

E.P – Being such a strong and widespread movement, it has been in the news a lot. Don’t you think that this has harmed the reputation of NEHU?

K.K – We don’t believe that this issue being flashed in the news will harm the reputation of NEHU. We, the student body as a whole feel that it is high time for the Central Government to realise that they can not make wrong decisions and play with the future of this university. Now, the Centre has to think twice before they make any decision regarding the university.

M.L – We the students are not cowards and are ready to face anyone. We want to send a clear message that we the student community are not guinea pigs. Neither is the university a dumping ground for the Centre to send someone here just for the sake of their own interest. We feel that Professor A.N. Rai who has not completed his term in Mizoram University might also leave us halfway and we don’t want this to happen. We have lost confidence in this man and we feel that NEHU should not be used as a testing ground where the Centre can appoint a person, test his competence here and later on move him someplace else.

K.K – We strongly feel that the appointment of the Search Committee was not done properly. Why has Professor A.N. Rai who is still serving as the Vice Chancellor of Mizoram University been sent to NEHU without completing his term in Mizoram University?

M.L – We want to ask the Government of India, is there no eligible person in our university?

E.P – What you are essentially saying is ‘no’ to Professor Rai and ‘yes’ to another new Vice Chancellor. What if that other Vice Chancellor appointed by the Visitor also turns out not to be an indigenous person?

K.K – Our stand is that we want an indigenous Vice Chancellor. The student community will not accept anything else.

M.L – As we have said before, we do not want an indigenous Vice Chancellor just for the sake of having an indigenous Vice Chancellor. We have studied the past and we have seen that there are a lot of qualified indigenous people to take up the post and this is why we are asking the Government of India to give an indigenous person the chance to show the people outside the region that there are people from here who are capable of running this university.

E.P – What is your planned course of action now?

K.K – We have allowed classes to resume because we need to finish the course but till this date we stand strong in stating that we still have not recognised Professor Rai as the Vice Chancellor of NEHU. We have set the deadline for the government’s decision and that deadline is the 29th of October 2010. If there is no positive response, this will compel us to once again start the agitation.

E.P – Do you have any closing remarks?

K.K - It has come to our notice that only those people who have good relations with the Ministry have a chance at becoming Vice Chancellor.

E.P – Can you cite any examples?

K.K – We can but we choose not to at the moment. If however the need arises, we are ready and able to do so.

M.L– We would like to ask why Professor Tandon who has been in the news a lot regarding corruption in NEHU still figured in the final list for approval by the Visitor as the new Vice Chancellor of NEHU. This proves that only people with good relations with the concerned Ministry can become Vice Chancellor. We feel that this is not an academic platform any more. In fact, it has become a platform for people with good relations in the concerned Ministry.

E.P – That list of candidates for the post of new Vice Chancellor is confidential matter. Are you privy to what is on the list?

K.K – Actually, this information regarding Professor Tandon’s inclusion in the list comes from a source which is privy to this information.

K.K - I would like to ask, if the reason for NEHU’s existence is for the uplift of the people of the region, why is it that a person from the region can not be given the chance to run the university? We feel that this post is for intellectuals and commands great respect. If an indigenous person is appointed, will that not serve in an uplift of a person from this region?

M.L – I feel that it takes a father to understand a son and to lead him to a better future.