Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid had to cut short his visit to the well-known Visva Bharati University in the Indian state of West Bengal on Tuesday due to an overnight siege by students.

Official sources said in Dhaka yesterday, the students’ demonstration forced the Bangladesh president to leave Santiniketan, founded by the Nobel winner author Rabindranath Tagore, even before his scheduled lunch.

The president had to leave the university 45 minutes ahead of schedule as students, aided by their parents, held the university’s vice-chancellor, Sushanta Duttagupta, hostage in his office since 4.30pm on Monday.

They did not allow the vice-chancellor to step out and receive Bangladesh’s head of state.

Media reports said the agitating students and their parents also broke a Visva Bharati tradition that has been around since Tagore’s days where the vice-chancellor formally opens the famous Poush Mela (winter festival) after a special prayer at Chatimtala. This is the first time that the vice-chancellor couldn’t make it to the prayers.

The protesters demanded that the Visva Bharati authorities withdraw the decision to scrap the 50% quota reserved for students of Visva Bharati-run schools Patha Bhavan and Siksha Satra although the University Grants Commission laws do not allow such preferential treatment.

The demonstrators gave in only after the vice-chancellor agreed to their demand.

Later, the vice-chancellor rushed home to freshen up after being locked up in his office for 20 hours, but by the time he came back to meet Abdul Hamid, the president was on his way out.

Following the incident, Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi used strong words to express his displeasure at the ‘growing indiscipline’ among students.

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