BHUBANESWAR: Odisha's famous Ravenshaw University has sought adequate police support, apparently in view of the ongoing protests over the controversy surrounding the proposed renaming of the 156-year-old educational institution.
In a letter to the Cuttack Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), the registrar of Ravenshaw University mentioned the tense situation on the university campus and requested urgent police deployment to ensure “safety” of students, staff and families on the campus.
“The Ravenshaw University campus has been witnessing a few protest campaigns organised mainly by people outside the institution (non-students) since 1st September 2024. As a result, the university campus is tense and the situation is gradually escalating day by day,” reads a letter from the registrar.
He added: “Please note that there are 3,000 boarders (boys and girls) accommodated in different hostels. Families of teachers and non-teaching staff also reside within the campus. This tense situation is considered to be becoming unsustainable and immediate measures are needed to restore normalcy on campus.”
“In order to restore academic peace and tranquillity within the campus, round-the-clock deployment of police personnel is highly essential. Therefore, it is requested that necessary steps be taken to deploy adequate number of police personnel within the university campus as well as at the entry points in order to maintain law and order situation within the Ravenshaw University campus,” the registrar wrote to the DCP.
The letter also requested the DCP to treat the matter as urgent.
Recently, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made a “personal submission” saying that he felt the name of Ravenshaw University needed to be changed.
The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also strongly supports Pradhan's proposal and says the institute should be named after an eminent Odia.
Ravenshaw University is named after Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, a British citizen who was the Governor of Odisha from 1865 to 1878. He is accused of failing to foresee the great famine of 1866, better known as Na-Anka Durbiksha, which officially claimed more than 100,000 lives. However, unofficial sources claim that more than 300,000 people perished in the disaster.
Leaders of the state units of the Congress and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have strongly opposed the name change proposal. They have also threatened a state-level agitation if the BJP goes ahead with the name change “agenda”.