In January 2016, TP Sreenivasan, the then Vice Chairman of the Higher Education Council, was slapped during a protest at the Global Education Summit in Kovalam. Sreenivasan had been advocating for the inclusion of private universities in Kerala when the incident occurred. The slap was delivered by Sharath, the District Vice President of the CPM youth wing, the SFI. Photographs and videos of the event, which showed Sreenivasan falling to the ground after being struck, were widely reported in the media, leaving a lasting stain on Kerala's education history.

With the CPM-led Left Government now pushing for university privatisation, the incident raises the question: was such a violent reaction necessary?

What happened?

Sreenivasan’s support for privatising higher education had provoked strong opposition from student groups and left-wing factions. Members of the SFI, including Sharath, strongly opposed his stance on welcoming private universities to Kerala. Tensions escalated when Sharath physically assaulted Sreenivasan, resulting in his arrest and removal from his leadership position within the SFI.

What SFI says now

P.M. Arsho, the present State Secretary of the SFI, downplayed the incident, attributing the slap incident to what he described as derogatory remarks made by Sreenivasan against Sharath. Arsho claimed that the attack was not premeditated by the SFI but rather a spontaneous reaction to Sreenivasan’s comments during the protest. He further stated that no apology is necessary, emphasising that the incident was not a planned attack against Sreenivasan or the then UDF government's stance on privatisation.