IIT Madras row echoes in capital

Chennai/ New Delhi: With IIT-Madras at the centre of controversy on Friday over derecognition of a student group following a complaint that it was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, HRD minister Smriti Irani and Congress Rahul Gandhi hit out at each other on Twitter.

While Smriti backed IIT’s action saying the institution has clearly stated that procedures were not followed by the student organisation and it knew that the Dean would derecognise it for violating norms, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said, “Free speech is our right. We will fight any attempt to crush dissent and debate.”  

Meanwhile, Dravidian University professor R Vivekandanda Gopal, whose lecture has been cited by the IIT-M Ambedkar Periyar Student Circle (APSC) in the pamphlets it distributed on campus, distanced himself from the controversy saying he had nothing to do with the contents of the pamphlet.