Author: M.G. Radhakrishnan
Publication: India Today
Date: July 31, 2006
Introduction: Barely two months into office
and the LDF Government is already courting controversy taking on the powerful
church
The scene is all too familiar. A stark reminder
of the days of the late 1950s when Kerala witnessed a "liberation struggle"
against the communist government's move to control and regulate the private
sector-dominated education sector in Kerala.
It's only two months since the V.S. Achuthanandan-led
Left Democratic Front (LDF) came to power but the communists are already embroiled
in a similar war with the church. The bone of contention is a bill passed
unanimously in the state assembly to regulate fees and admissions in the 100-odd
self-financed professional colleges mostly managed by Christians. The bill
says 50 per cent seats should be reserved for various categories where only
government-determined fees could be charged, for 35 per cent seats higher
fees could be charged as set by a commission appointed by the state and five
times more could be charged from 15 per cent seats reserved for NRIs. The
managements of these colleges have rejected the bill in toto and have moved
the court and the Minorities Education Commission calling the bill unconstitutional.
The commission has since granted minority
status to six colleges that can now circumvent the bill. This has been challenged
by the state government. In an interim order on July 18 the high court ordered
status quo in matters of fees and admissions for one year. The court set the
fees for the current year as recommended by the Fees Monitoring Commission
appointed by the UDF government. The colleges see it as meagre.
Now the church has taken up the matter with
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC President Sonia Gandhi and HRD Minister
Arjun Singh. "The bill is unconstitutional and violates the rights of
minorities," says Major Arch Bishop Varkey Vithayathil, head of Catholic
Syro-Malabar Church. "We will be forced to launch mass agitation if the
bill is not withdrawn in toto," says Syro-Malabar Synod's spokesman Fr.
Paul Thelakat. July 23 has been declared a Prayer Day in protest.
The government does not seem to be in a mood
to surrender. "It is unfortunate that the church is communalising the
issue and defending the anti-poor ways of colleges," says Achuthanandan.
State Education Minister M.A. Baby has warned against mixing the issue with
minority rights. "We will not encourage attempts to safeguard vested
interests in the garb of minority rights," he says. Meanwhile CPI(M)
General Secretary Prakash Karat flew into the state capital to address a seminar
on the issue.
The Opposition UDF is caught in a dilemma
even as it supported the bill in the assembly. "The bill will not stand
judicial scrutiny. It is also trying to foment communal hostilities,"
says former chief minister Oommen Chandy. However, the Congress has said it
would not encourage another "liberation struggle". Interestingly,
Christian groups have slammed the church for favouring the elite and ignoring
the poor. Christian scholar Joseph Pulikkunnel says, "These institutions
are run by cliques that misuse minority rights."
While the stage seems set for a long-drawn
political battle in God's own country, it's the students who are left pondering
over their future.
