A vice-president of the BJP in Karnataka has been appointed chairperson of the board of governors of IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology), Shibpur, drawing criticism in academic circles for an alleged attempt to saffronise an institution with a rich legacy.
Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, wife of late Union minister Ananth Kumar, will head the highest decision-making body of IIEST.
“The Hon’ble President of India in her capacity as the visitor of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, in terms of the provisions contained under the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (NITSER) Act, 2007( 29 of 2007), is pleased to nominate Smt Tejaswini Anantha Kumar, chairman and Co Founder, Adamya Chetna Foundation, Bengaluru, as the chairperson of Board of Governors (BoGs) of... IIEST, Shibpur (West Bengal), for a period of three years w.e.f. 25.08.2023 (i.e. the date of nomination by the hon’ble visitor) or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” says an order from the Union ministry of education mailed to IIEST on Monday.
Tejaswini has a bachelor of engineering (electrical, electronics and communications engineering) from BVB Engineering College, Karnataka.
She has been a trustee of Adamya Chetana, a Bangalore-based NGO, since its inception in 1997. The organisation is well known for its mid-day meal scheme in schools and provides food to over 2 lakh children every day.
Adamya Chetana’s website describes it as a voluntary organisation working in the fields of food, education, health, nature and culture.
It was started by Ananth Kumar, a six-time MP from the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency and a cabinet minister in the BJP governments helmed by Atal Behari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi.
A section of teachers at IIEST, Shibpur said her appointment was an attempt by the central government to handpick people with close BJP affiliation as heads of academic institutions.
“It is a systematic pattern and not a one-off instance...,” said an IIEST official.
Recently, Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose entrusted a former Karnataka High Court chief justice with the job of vice-chancellor at Rabindra Bharati University in Calcutta. Academics had wondered then why a person accused of expressing “bigoted” views in the past was put in charge of a university named after Rabindranath Tagore.
Tejaswini’s meeting with Karnataka deputy chief minister and state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar on Monday led to speculation about her possible switch to the state’s ruling party.
“Smt @Tej_AnanthKumar wife of senior BJP leader Dr. Ananth Kumar, met me today at Kumara Krupa guest house and discussed state political issues,” Shivakumar wrote on X, formerly Twitter, along with two pictures of him greeting Tejaswini.
After Ananth Kumar passed away in 2018, Tejaswini had apparently been keen to contest from the Bangalore South constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. But the BJP sprang a surprise by nominating rookie Tejasvi Surya, who is from a family of RSS workers.
The decision had then led to protests by BJP workers who wanted Tejaswini to be the candidate as a gesture to Ananth Kumar who was among the old-timers who built the party in the state.
She had then remarked that the denial of ticket was “shocking” to her and her supporters, but decided to accept it in the party’s interest.
The Congress, sources said, has been keen to field her in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls against Surya to capitalise on the goodwill she enjoys as the widow of Ananth Kumar and in her own merit as a social worker.
Tejaswini has denied any plans to quit the BJP.
