Kodandaram Losing Sheen in OU Campus

Professor M Kodandaram (some even call him 'the non-teaching professor') is gradually losing sheen in Osmania University campus. About 20 students led by Osmania University students joint action committee met Prof Kodandaram, and demanded that he consult them before deciding any student-related agitation including educational bandhs hereafter. The formal meeting saw a public demonstration of the growing resentment in the OU student community against Kodandaram, the political JAC chief, who is currently spearheading the T agitation. Moreover, several faculty members of the university, too, share the students’ feelings, sending out indications that Kodandaram is no longer seen as a respected leader as he was seen before on the Osmania University campus.

 

The students and the faculty members of OU say that the Telangana agitation is largely becoming TRS-driven under the guidance of Kodandaram. The groups that have come out in the open against the political JAC leader on the OU campus include People's Democratic Students Union (PDSU), Dalit and BC student unions, SC & ST Telangana Teachers Forum, Osmania University Teachers' Front and also some sections of the OU students' JAC.

The students aver that the political JAC, which was formed after OU-JAC, has hijacked the agitation and is steering it towards what seems to be a 'T' stalemate. "In the most recent case, the political JAC called for an educational bandh and it wasn’t successful. The bandh was called without consulting the students’ unions on OU campus and other Telangana campuses," said M Krishank, the OU-JAC spokesperson. "We need to know who is taking decisions in the political JAC and why students and faculty members of OU are not being consulted before calling for bandhs," he added. Some of the faculty members of the university who are in fact part of Telangana political JAC are also not called for meetings and discussions, sources said.

Sources said that the rift between Kodandaram and students is now widening on caste lines, particularly after the Harish Rao incident in Andhra Bhawan, New Delhi. Soon after television channels flashed images of Harish Rao slapping a Dalit staff member of Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi, the students in OU held a protest even as Kodandaram maintained that the incident could not be classified as a case of caste discrimination. The Harish Rao incident did not go down well with most SC students who have played a crucial role in the Telangana movement on OU campus.