Kozhikode: The Kozhikode District Congress Committee will organise a protest march towards the National Institute of Technology campus near here on Friday demanding the withdrawal of the decision appointing A. Shaija as the dean (planning and development) starting April.

Shaija was in the news last year when she praised Nathuram Godse in response to a post shared by a right-wing supporter.

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In her comment, Shaija had expressed "pride" in Godse for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi and thus "saving India".

Soon following a protest, she was arrested and released on bail.

At the time, she had said: “My comment was not to appreciate the killing of Gandhiji. I never wanted to do so. I had read Godse’s book, ‘Why I Killed Gandhi’. Godse was also a freedom fighter. There is a lot of information and revelations in his book, which the common man does not know. Godse has enlightened us in his book. Against this backdrop, I had commented on the advocate’s Facebook post. When I realised that people have started distorting my comment, I deleted it.”

Speaking to the IANS, the district president of the Congress party Praveen Kumar said, “We do not expect anything more than this from the Centre which handles the transfer and promotion of NIT faculty. This is a reward for Shaija for praising Godse and defaming Gandhiji. What else can you expect from a regime under PM Modi and the RSS.

He also said that the Congress student wing activists who protested before the NIT were roughed up by the police.

“On Friday, the Congress party will stage a protest before the institution. We will demand to withdraw her promotion. We will not rest until our demand is met,” said Kumar.

On Monday, the Union government decided to promote Shaija, presently a professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NIT Calicut, to that of the Dean.

Shaija is yet to make any comment on the protest that has been announced. (IANS)