'Go Back': Before Vivekananda Statue Unveiling, JNU Students Write to PM Over VC Jagadesh's 'Misdeeds'
12-November-2020

The Student�s Union of Jawaharlal Nehru University has given a call �Modi Go Back,� ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s presence for the unveiling of Swami Vivekananda statue in JNU. The event being organised at 6:30pm on Thursday will be virtual.

The students� organisation has also written an open letter to the PM on behalf of the student community, presenting to him the �misdeeds� that were prevalent at the time of VC M Jagadesh Kumar.

The current VC�s term is going to end in a couple of months. The Ministry of Education issued an advertisement for the appointment of the new VC.

Students urged him to retract from the event as they see his decision to accept the invitation for the event as a token of support for his actions. �We see your decision to accept the invitation as a token of your support for the actions of the JNU Vice-Chancellor over the last four years, unless you retract your decision for the same and hold the Vice-Chancellor accountable for the failures and mismanagement,� said the open letter signed by the office bearers of JNUSU � Aishe Ghosh (President), Saket Moon (Vice president), Satish Chandra Yadav (General Secretary) and Mohd. Danish (Joint Secretary).

The students brought to his notice the February 9, 2016 event on campus. �VC was appointed in January 2016. Soon after, television screens were flush with doctored videos aiming to criminalise JNU students using an archaic law of Sedition formulated in the British era. The Vice Chancellor bypassed the enquiry procedures of the university, leading to the resignation of three proctors, all appointed by him, showing that the whole matter was to �sully the image of the university'," they wrote.

Further they listed the case of Najeeb Ahmad, a student of the university and resident of Mahi Mandavi hostel who disappeared after an altercation with ABVP members in 2016.

Other campus issues �UGC gazette that heavily cut down the intake of MPhil and PhD courses,� �Dismantling of GS-CASH and adoption of a �puppet body� ICC to probe sexual harassment cases on campus, �proposal of 300% fee hike without the consultation with the student body� were also mentioned in the letter.

JNUSU also raised the point on the 2015 UGC decision �to cut our Non-NET fellowships which supported thousands of research scholars.� They said that the then minister was reticent on their demand to increase those fellowships even as hundreds of students sat in protests in winters. �We hope you can think about increasing the Non-NET fellowship in the age of economic crisis since your NEP document encourages providing students with fellowships.�