Jailed Maoist leader begins hunger strike in prison after being denied scholarship

Kolkata, Sep 6 Maoist leader in West Bengal, Arnab Dam a.k.a. Vikram, who is currently serving his judicial custody at a correctional home in East Burdwan district in West Bengal and also pursuing his PhD in history from Burdwan State University, has started a hunger-strike from Saturday within the prison alleging denial of state-scholarship, which he is officially entitled to continue PhD.

According to him, the state government and the state education department were deliberately holding back his scholarship money despite ignoring his talent and quest for higher studies.

He also communicated to a section of the media that although he had written letters both to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as well as to the state education minister, Bratya Basu, it did not yield any result.

According to the vice chancellor of Burdwan University, Sankar Nath, the university authorities are helpless on this issue. “The University authorities can only recommend names for a scholarship. The rest depends on the state government,” Nath said.

Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), had also raised this issue of denial of scholarship to Dam.

“No one could be deprived of a scholarship because of his or her political beliefs. Dam has become a victim of Nepotism, where merits or examination results are not being given importance,” said APDR general secretary Ranjit Sur.

Dam was convicted as an associate in the attack on the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Silda in West Midnapore district in February 2010 during the previous Left Front regime in West Bengal.

During his prison days, he successfully cleared the state eligibility test (SET) after appearing for the examination while being in judicial custody.

Dam was reportedly a meritorious student since his childhood, and he even cleared the examination for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and started studying mechanical engineering from IIT- Kharagpur.

During his stay at IIT-Kharagpur campus he got attracted to Maoist ideology and went absconding after his third-semester examination. He was arrested in 2012 as an accused in the Silda EFR camp attack.

He started concentrating on studies again from behind bars and completed his graduation and post-graduation from Indira Gandhi Open University. Thereafter, he applied for a PhD from Burdwan State University.

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