Lucknow, Jan. 6: Educationist and social activist Sandeep Pandey has been removed from the post of visiting professor at Banaras Hindu University's IIT.
Pandey today told The Telegraph that his teaching contract had been terminated prematurely on the "charge of links with Naxalites and anti-national forces" although he was a "practising Gandhian". The contract was due to expire this July.
Pandey, who won the Magsaysay Award in the "emergent leadership" category in 2002, had been teaching control systems in mechanical engineering at the IIT since 2013. Recently, he was also assigned to teach development studies in the humanities section.
He claimed that by getting him out of the way, BHU vice-chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi had done "exactly what he was assigned for".
"Prof Tripathi was appointed VC in 2014 with the sole aim to pursue the RSS's agenda. Smriti Irani (the HRD minister) also gave him additional charge as chairman of the board of governors of IIT-BHU so that he can have complete control over everything. By removing me, the VC has done exactly what he was assigned for," Pandey alleged.
An alumnus of IIT-BHU and a former teacher of IIT Kanpur, Pandey has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and works for community empowerment in rural Uttar Pradesh.
Another reason cited for Pandey's removal is that he apparently arranged the screening of India's Daughter, the banned documentary on the December 16, 2012, Delhi gang rape, on the campus.
"The students registered a complaint that he organised the screening of the documentary," the VC alleged.
Pandey has refuted the charge. "They dislike any rational voice that doesn't blindly support the ideology of the RSS. I am not surprised that they are cooking up charges against me and don't feel like countering it," he said.
"The university authorities are also angry because I recently joined a dharna of 40 casual employees who were sacked. I am sure RSS men would be adjusted in those posts."
Pandey isn't the only one questioning the "saffronisation" of BHU. Binda Paranjape, a professor in the history department, was recently dubbed a "Leftist" when she raised her voice against the appointment of "undeserving" candidates as assistant professors.
"There were at least two candidates who plagiarised other people's research for their thesis. I pointed out all this with evidence to the selection committee. But the candidates' RSS links proved stronger than their plagiarism," Paranjape told this newspaper.
"Some senior members rejected my allegation and dubbed me a 'Leftist'. Let alone that I am a Konkan Brahmin and my parents taught me to worship Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the RSS founder sarsanghchalak. My family members are regular shakha goers."
Paranjape, a Fulbright scholar and the president of the Kashi zone of Saksham, a wing of the RSS that works for the physically challenged, alleged that the BHU management was "hell-bent on destroying the academic sanctity" of the university.
"Let me add that the founders of the RSS never supported any compromise with academic standards," she said.
Some members of the university claimed that six RSS men had been deployed on the campus to encourage students to join its ranks.
At present, there are seven RSS shakhas running on the campus. Reports said university guesthouses had been thrown open for the weddings of relatives of Sangh leaders.
BHU vice-chancellor Tripathi has said he is doing what is best for the university. He has started a Bhagwad Gita recitation session for the students. He is a former leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS student wing.
A source in the board justified the decision on Pandey saying: "We cannot violate the law and stay on as faculty in a public institution." The source said the board had received complaints that Pandey had started a debate on whether Kashmir should remain part of India.
