By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
New Delhi: Eight Dalit, Adivasi and minority students of Jawaharlal University (JNU) were suspended with immediate effect and their hostel facilities withdrawn for disrupting an Academic Council meeting held on Monday.
Along with Rahl, the other students’ names are: Dawa Sherpa, Mulayam Singh, Shakeel, Bhupali Kusum Vitthal, Dileep Yadav, Mritunjaya Kumar Yadav and Prashant Kumar.
Students belonging to Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), Democratic Students’ Union (DSU), Students’ Front for Swaraj (SFS) and United OBC Forum protested on at the meeting venue, and demanded that the academic council re-schedule its meeting which passed the UGC gazette notification of May 2016 making interviews the sole criterion of admission.
Students like Rahul Sonpimple, who had also contested for the JNUSU elections, have strongly protested against such a notification, alleging that this will only increase the bias against students from the marginalised communities.
Although the JNUSU issued a press release condemning the action taken by the Vice Chancellor, Sonpimple and other students took to social media to expose the double standards of the students body.
“The AISA-SFI led JNUSU was not present in the protest against the Brahmanical Viva Voce but it condemns the protest done by BAPSA, United OBC Forum, DSU and Students for Swaraj…however the JNUSU and the JNU Administration are both condemning our protest as “Undemocratic”. Both the JNUSU and the JNU administration have collectively passed the decision of fee hike and given the fate of students in the hands of the various Centers by letting them decide the student’s marks in Viva Voce.
“It has been already proved that all of the Centers discriminate against ST, SC, OBC, and minority students. The Abdul Naffeh Committee which was formed by the JNU Administration itself has already stated that the discrimination against sT SC OBC and minority students is high in all the Schools and centres. While the Dalit-Bahujan,and Muslim students are fighting against this Casteist Decision by the JNU Administration & VC the AISA-SFI led JNUSU chose to keep quiet and ignore our struggle. Now the JNUSU has come to extend its solidarity to us.Dalit-Bahujan students can fight their own wars,” Sonpimple said on Facebook.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the vice-chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will now have a greater say in appointment of faculty members, and he now has the power to nominate experts of his choice to the selection committees.
“The move, many Academic Council (AC) members said, was not approved by the body in the previous meeting. On Monday, the AC meeting was held after it was adjourned on Friday,” the report added.