Another casualty to comrades: Bold Kerala V-C

Haunted by the CPM-led government and the persistent persecution by its affiliated organizations, Radhakrishnan, 53, has decided to opt out, with two years to go for retirement.

As his four-year deputation to the university gets over in four months, the philosophy reader at Maharaja’s College, Kochi, has applied for voluntary retirement. “I am scared of going back to the college. My family and I still face threat from partymen (CPM workers). As a VC, I can get police protection any time. But as an ordinary professor, I will be vulnerable to assaults,” says Radhakrishnan.

Such has been the CPM-sponsored attack on him that Radhakrishnan says he has no choice. The CPM has used every weapon possible: character assassination, vigilance probe, physical assault and sustained campaigns.

Why did they go after Radhakrishnan? In a state where intellectuals are equated with the Left, Radhakrishnan has been an outsider. He has spoken out against the CPM and its policies. In his student days, he was an activist of the student wing of the Congress and is still friends with several of its leaders. Through his writings and speeches, Radhakrishnan has often attacked the party’s ideology.

Radhakrishnan was appointed VC by the Congress-led United Democratic Front government in 2004.

On his fourth day in office, SFI activists burnt his effigy. They were backed by the teachers’ union affiliated to the CPM. That was followed by a charge of sexual harassment. When two women research scholars met him to extend the time of closing the gate of the ladies hostel by two hours, Radhakrishnan asked the girls whether it would be a cause of concern to their parents.

His detractors in the university latched on to that question and the scholars were asked to register complaints with the police, State Women’s Commission and the University. At the end of a high-decibel campaign, the issue died down.

A corruption charge came next. Radhakrishnan was dragged to a vigilance case over a decision taken by the university’s Syndicate. Left unions alleged that it was the VC’s decision. Despite the Accountant-General’s report, which gave him a clean chit, the Education Minister’s office ordered a vigilance probe. “Education Minister and CPM Central Committee member M A Baby promised to look into the matter within 15 days. But he never did so,” recalls Radhakrishnan, who had to move the High Court to get a stay on the probe.

Minister Baby, when contacted, said it was unbecoming of a VC to raise such “baseless allegations.” On the vigilance probe, Baby said the inspection report from the Finance Department had found financial irregularities.

His worst crisis came in 2006 when he transferred a CPM union leader over alleged financial irregularities. For 18 days, the university was turned into a battleground. The office was shut for 10 days and the VC was not allowed to enter the campus. Radhakrishnan got calls that threatened to kill his two daughters. For six months, police provided security to his entire family.

The latest: The government sat on his request for permission to attend an international conference on philosophy in Seoul. He applied for permission a month before the meet and the clearance reached him on August 4, the day the conference ended.

Baby said it was up to the Chancellor (Governor) to give sanction. “The Government only advises the Chancellor. The Chancellor had issued the sanction on August 1,” he said.

“As a student of philosophy, I have been always against communism. But for that, the party should not have tortured me like this,” says Radhakrishnan.