Holy cow! GU VC faces flak again

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Shows Gujarat University’s support to the gou raksha yatra through banners; officials say that Parimal Trivedi is saffronising the campus by propogating causes of the RSS


By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Thursday, December 10, 2009  (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=20091210200912100221094677a07c0d2) (Pic-Dilip Thaker)
There is a hint of saffron on the Gujarat University campus these days. The varsity is welcoming the Vishwa Mangala Gou Gram Yathra to Ahmedabad on December 20. Banners and hoardings have come up on the university campus on the yatra, which will see Sadhvi Rithambara devi in the city to address a public rally on gou rakhsha. The banners have slogans calling for declaring cow the national animal.
The open support GU Vice hancellor Parimal Trivedi is showing to the programme linked to the RSS has not gone down well with many in the university offices.
GU syndicate member Manish Doshi said the VC has crossed his limits in ‘saffornising’ the varsity.”Look, we all revere the cow. It has its importance in Indian culture, but this programme has a political flavour. The GU should rather concentrate on better education and facilities to students,” Doshi said.
“Who would mind if the VC attends to such causes personally?” he asked. “Don’t involve the university which is supposed to be secular in its views and has students of all faiths,” he added.
Dr Trivedi on his part said the university will welcome and support the yatra. “We will also ask colleges to hold programmes to make the youth aware about cows,” he told AM on phone.
When contacted, student leader Vinay Tomar too said that the varsity was not the place to propogate such things, “though we all rever the holy cow”. “The university is not a political stage,” he said.
The website on Vishwa Mangala Gou Gram Yathra, www.gougram.org lists cow protection as the prime aim of the yatra and has the support of the RSS (the RSS website lists the programme in its quick links and has updates on the yatra’s progress).
The yatra, which started from Kurukshetra on September 30 this year, will reach the city on December 20 after halts in Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. From Ahmedabad, it will leave for Patan and then to Rajasthan.

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