Kozhikode: Almost 10 months after the visit of Dr Kafeel Khan, who was suspended from Baba Raghav Das Medical college, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, a fresh controversy has kicked up in the Kozhikode Government Medical College, over 'anti-national' activities.
The Hospital Development Society (HDS) has passed a resolution to inquire about the anti-national activities. A meeting held at its Learning Resource Centre (LRC) on May 13, 2018, is under the scanner. An interactive session, Dr Khan had with the medical students of the college, is the one in question.
The demand for a probe was first raised by BJP Kozhikode district president T P Jayachandran. However, the majority of the HDS members who supported an investigation, later said they were unaware that the 'anti-national' activity referred by him was the visit of Dr Khan. On March 7, principal Dr V R Rajendran suspended college union chairman Ameen Abdulla P after a series of enquiry and protests in the medical college.
Meanwhile, Dr Khan said that unnecessary issues were being raked up by some political leaders.
“Unnecessary controversy has been created by some political parties, especially (the) BJP, by portraying the Calicut Medical College in poor light and targetting innocent medical students. The allegation is that they invited 'Rashtra drohi' (anti-national) Dr Kafeel Khan – on whom sedition charges have been slapped by the (UP) government. Another allegation was that it was a political meeting. Whatever charges (the) Yogi Adityanath government had levelled on me on the oxygen tragedy (2017 Gorakhpur hospital deaths) to save his government, was not even accepted by the High Court, and there is no sedition charges on me.
“The talk was just an interaction with medical students. Just to tell them, even if they are doctors, their main responsibility is to treat patients, not administrative responsibilities of the hospitals. Doctors are humans first. So, I just motivated them. Whenever you get a chance to save innocent lives, do not worry about the results. The meeting lasted for only an hour,” Dr Khan said.
He alleged that since the Lok Sabha elections are nearing, the BJP was desperate to gain a foothold in Kerala and created a controversy over a talk that was held almost 10 months ago.
Background of the controversy
The Kozhikode Medical College union is being ruled by Independents for the past 15 years, much to the displeasure of almost all the prominent political parties, including the CPM in the state. This is the reason for even CPM Kozhikode district secretary P Mohanan, to admit openly to the media that 'for long, people with terrorist affiliations are concentrating their activities in the campus'.
“These activities did not start recently, for many years, certain powers are trying to influence the students in the campus. Rarely, some teachers in the campus are also helping the growth of such activities,” Mohanan told media, without mentioning the name of Dr Khan.
The representatives of Congress said that they were not aware that the BJP and CPM representatives were referring to the visit of Dr Khan and they supported the resolution as a fight against anti-national activities.
Internal probe and collector's intervention
The first discussion on the visit of Dr Khan was held in the HDS meeting in June and the principal ordered for an internal investigation. Explanation was sought from the union chairman as well as Dr Aquil Kalamad, assistant professor, general medicine, who also attended Dr Khan's session. The chairman said that the principal had granted permission to conduct the event.
However, the BJP again raised the issue in the HDS at the start of this month and said that it was not satisfied with the internal inquiry and the district collector, who is also the chairman of the HDS, should request the city police commissioner for a probe. The college principal is also the vice-chairman of the society.
The HDS has nearly 40 members, including representatives of all political parties having representation in the state Assembly, representatives of the MPs in the district, superintendents of MCH, IMCH, chest hospital and dental college, all the heads of the departments in college, representative of PWD wing, Mayor, MLAs in the distrcit, district panchayat president, corporation health officer, two corporation councillors and nursing superintendents.
Students protest
A protest march was held by the students of the college under 'joint protest committee' on March 5, with the participation of Independents, SFI, ABVP, HSA and PG association, after allegations against Dr Aquil. Their representatives met the principal and requested him to correct the minutes, saying there was no anti-national activity held in the LRC.
However, Dr Rajendran refused to change the minutes and the union leaders gheraoed him on March 6. The union leaders claim that the principal agreed to present their request before the HDS the next day itself.
The college committee meeting, chaired by the principal, decided to suspend the chairman on March 7 pending enquiry and asked him to vacate the hostel. The suspension order also states that his entry to the college as well as hostel is restricted until finalisation of the inquiry.
College union vice chairman Nitin Suresh said that the joint committee has no plans to call off the protest without the authorities revoking the suspension of Ameen.
