Chandigarh, April 29
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari visited supporters of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), who have been sitting on a chain hunger strike against the fee hike, at Panjab University here on Saturday.
Batting for Central University status as the permanent solution to the university’s financial crisis, the former Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting condemned the framing of criminal charges against the students in the April 11 incident. Tewari said the charges against the students must be taken back.
He appreciated the students for protesting in a peaceful manner but emphasised that the protest against fee hike was not a solution to the problem. “Seek a permanent solution to the financial crisis being faced by the university,” he told the students.
Reiterating the opinion of other Congress leaders who have visited the PU campus over the past few days, Tewari said local MP Kirron Kher must take up the issue of Central university status with the Centre. He assured the students of all possible help from the Punjab Government.
“Panjab University offers high quality education to all and is among India’s top universities. The kind of problem that the university is facing is really unfortunate,” he said, assuring the students. Tewari was interacting with the supporters of NSUI outside the PU Vice-Chancellor’s office where their meeting lasted for about 20 minutes—TNS