New Delhi, May 29: The Opposition and activists closed ranks today against the ban on Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle at IIT Madras.

"During our time we had no such group, but no discrimination has increased so much that it was needed," IIT-M alumnus E. Muralidharan told The Telegraph.

The Biomedical Engineering scholar has filed cases against alleged irregularities in the appointments of directors of the institute.

Despite experience in American and Japanese varsities, he added, his application for a teaching position in IIT-M was summarily rejected 13 times between 1995 and 2014. The institute has around 500 faculty members, while less than 30 faculties are from OBC, SC and ST groups, he said.

Naren Bedide, the contributing editor to India Roundtable, an Ambedkarite website, said that about 93 per cent of teachers at IIT Madras were Brahmins.

"The action of IIT Madras to ban the students' group was out of over enthusiasm after getting a letter from HRD Ministry," he said.

A committee led by Rajya Sabha MP and former Mumbai University vice-chancellor Bhalchandra Mungekar found that the Dalit students were deliberately harassed in Delhi's Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College.

They found that Dalits identified by deliberately assigned roll numbers and were denied promotion to the next year, between 2011 to 2014. The institute has rejected the report. However, the practice has been discontinued after controversy.

The Dalit students at All India Institute of Medical Science, here, were subject to harassment when the OBC quota was introduced in 2006. The government set up a panel under then University Grants Commission chairman Sukhadeo Thorat, who recommended a SC/ST cell to be set up. This is yet to happen.

The IITs and several central educational institutions have been flouting reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs in recruitment of faculty. IIT Bhubaneswar has recruited 52 assistant professors between 2010 and 2014, including three OBC candidates and just one Scheduled Caste candidate.

The centrally-funded institutions are supposed to implement reservation of 27 per cent for OBCs, 15 per cent for SCs and 7.5 per cent for STs in recruitment. This means the IIT should have recruited 13 teachers belonging to OBCs, eight from SC and four from ST communities.

The row at IIT is similar to the one in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University last year. The editors of a journal called Forward Press are facing trial for inciting violence due to an article valourising Mahishasura as a tribal ruler who - according to adivasi folklore- was seduced and murdered by Aryan agent Durga in order to conquer his lands. The journal was circulated during the celebration of Mahishasura Diwas on campus in October, 2014.

The fest organised annually by the All India Backward Students' Federation after Durga Puja, and it was opposed by the RSS-inspired Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

This led to an altercation following which the ABVP supporters filed a case against the editors Pramod Ranjan and Ivan Kostka.

The Congress-backed National Students Union of India attempted to storm Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani's residence here on Friday. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "IIT student group banned for criticising Modi government. What next? Free speech is our right. We will fight any attempt to crush dissent and debate."

Irani tweeted back saying: "next time fight ur battles ur self don't hide behind NSUI. N by d way I'm b returning to Amethi soon. See you there."

Ambika Soni endorsed Rahul's views, arguing that the IIT Madras incident was just a manifestation of an RSS mindset.

"Speak our language, think like us, support our deeds... or else your freedom will be snatched. That's what the RSS and the Modi Government are," Soni said.

She said, "Every individual and group have the right to criticize the Government, how can you impose ban if it goes against you?" The former Information & Broadcasting Minister also took a dig at the media, arguing that the "attitude during the UPA government was vastly different from what it is now."

The CPI(M)'s Tamil Nadu unit also condemned the incident, attributing undue pressure for the ruling dispensation.

"The IIT-M administration should immediately restore the recognition given to APSC. Action should be taken against the Dean who cancelled the recognition of APSC without any inquiry and simply on the basis of Sangh Parivar organisations anonymous letter," a party statement said.