Minister for Higher Education Roji M. John on Friday condemned a protest by the Students Federation of India (SFI) at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit as the student organisation rejected reports that it had staged a mock funeral of Ciza Thomas, Vice-Chancellor, while a meeting of Syndicate was under way on Thursday.

Such types of uncivilised protests cannot be accepted, said Mr. John as he alleged that the SFI activists had tried to physically assault the Vice-Chancellor. “It is for the Left front, which recently claimed that it will try to change their protest methods in tune with the times, to introspect whether such type of uncivilised protests are required,” he said.

The Minister asked why the protesting activists failed to raise their voice against the shortage of facilities and other demands when the Left front was in power for the past 10 years. “The public would realise that its a drama that is politically motivated,” he alleged.

Ms. Thomas told mediapersons that such type of protests came at a time when the varsity had started implementing various measures, including the disbursal of degree certificates that had been pending since 2019. Stating that the varsity had plans to convene a meeting of all student organisations to discuss various issues, she alleged that the protesters physically prevented her and members of the Syndicate from leaving the campus after the meeting.

On whether action will be taken against the students for staging such a protest, she said she would seek advice before proceeding as a message should go that these kinds of reactions were unacceptable and against democratic values.

The SFI unit leadership denied that they staged a mock funeral of the Vice-Chancellor. They pointed out that students of the Department of Theatre had offered floral tributes on damaged lighting equipment as part of the attempt to highlight the lack of facilities.

Meanwhile, eleven Vice-Chancellors sent a letter to the government and the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of State universities, seeking stringent action against those responsible for the alleged physical and mental assault on Ms. Thomas.

Published - August 14, 2026 09:07 pm IST