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‘Bore toh nahin ho rahe?’: Row erupts after Chhattisgarh varsity V-C asks writer Manoj Rupda to leave seminar
It all began during a one-day seminar on 'Samkalin Hindi Kahani : Badalte Jeevan Sandarbh at the Guru Ghasidas Central University in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur.
What began as a comical interjection by a vice-chancellor at a Chhattisgarh university during a seminar, has spiralled into a full-blown controversy, with calls to sack him even from political leaders.
It all began during a one-day national seminar on ‘Samkalin Hindi Kahani: Badalte Jeevan Sandarbh’ (Contemporary Hindi Story: Changing Life Contexts) at the Guru Ghasidas Central University in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Wednesday.
While V-C Alok Kumar Chakrawal was delivering his address, he paused and asked writer Manoj Rupda, seated in the front row, “Bhai saheb, aap bore to nahin ho rahe? (Brother, are you getting bored?”
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In response, Rupda reportedly said Chakrawal should speak on the topic. This appeared to anger the V-C, according to news agency PTI and viral videos.
"I will come to the subject. I don't talk without the subject. But I don't think you know how to talk to a vice-chancellor. You should learn it. Were you invited by someone? Don't call him the next time," Chakrawal could be heard saying in a video in Hindi.
The vice-chancellor then asks the writer, whom he does not seem to recognise as Manoj Rupda, to leave the room. After a brief argument, Manoj Rupda leaves the hall. Several other attendees are also seen leaving the room after Rupda, and one of them returns to speak to the V-C too.
Row escalates
Manoj Rupda, reacting to the incident, said it was an insult of the entire literary community.
"What can I say about the humiliating incident that happened with me yesterday at Guru Ghasidas University in Bilaspur? I haven't said anything in protest yet, and I won't. Because this is not a personal insult to me; it is an insult to the entire literary community," he told PTI.
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"I personally have no ill-intention towards the vice-chancellor. But the protests happening now are not just against the V-C; they are against that entire mindset — a mindset that is constantly harassing people associated with art and literature." he added.
Madhav Kaushik, president of the Sahitya Akademi, while speaking to a news daily in Chandigarh, condemned the vice-chancellor's conduct and said the university wouldn't receive any funds or host the academy's seminars in the future.
Members of the Jan Sanskriti Manch, who were in attendance at the seminar, also condemned the incident.
"This incident reflects the lack of respect for literature, art, and culture in Chhattisgarh. Manoj Rupda had come at the invitation of the Sahitya Akademi and the university," the Manch's Bilaspur unit president Mudit Mishra said.
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The group's members in Durg-Bhilai, Raipur, Ambikapur, Dhamtari and Bilaspur also sought Chakrawal's removal, while a group of writers held a protest near the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar at Ambedkar Chowk in Raipur.
Bhupesh Baghel reacts
Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel took to X to condemn the incident, saying it was "a stain on the position of Vice-Chancellor." He said he hoped that the Chancellor, which is the Governor, will take note of the action.
"Children not only learn lessons from the conduct of gurus but society also learns from it. But the Vice-Chancellor has shamed society itself. Writers and the intellectual community have registered their protest in many places, including Raipur and Bilaspur. It is hoped that the Chancellor, i.e., the Governor, will take cognizance of this," Baghel said.
