The boorish conduct of vice-chancellor Alok Kumar Chakrawal towards writer Manoj Rupda at Guru Ghasidas University in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, is being condemned for good reason. Vice-chancellor Chakrawal was speaking at a seminar on the Hindi short story organised by his university in collaboration with Sahitya Akademi. In the video of the incident that has since circulated widely, he can be heard making some unfortunately flippant remarks.

At some point, his gaze drifts towards the audience seated in front of him and he is heard telling someone that they appear uncomfortable. From the audience comes a reply — possibly that he is not speaking on the subject, or a request that he do so.

The vice-chancellor retorts that if the person is uncomfortable, they should leave; that they do not know how to speak to a VC, and so on.

At this, Manoj Rupda stands up and walks out of the room. The VC then turns to his officials and asks who invited this person in the first place. He’d been observing for some time, he says, that this gentleman seemed uneasy. Anyone who is ill at ease, he adds, should not remain in the room.

Even after widespread condemnation, Chakrawal seems unable to see anything wrong with his conduct. If it was an outburst on the spur of the moment, the appropriate response would have been to express regret and apologise to Rupda. But our man has doubled down on defending himself.

The VC made several other errors. When he agreed to attend the seminar, he should have asked his office for a briefing — the topic of the seminar, who the other participants were, and so on. He should have agreed to participate only after gathering this information from the department concerned.

Asking “who invited him” was an act of extreme discourtesy. He was invited by the institution itself, and unless a guest behaves offensively, it is the responsibility of the institution — and its head — to ensure that the guest’s dignity is not violated.

As the head of an institution, a........

© National Herald