IIT-M study circle Debate spills on to social media

Chennai: The uproar over the recent de-recognition of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) by IIT-Madras has not only spilt on to newspaper pages and news screens but is being played out on social networking sites with absolute vigour. The APSC’s page on Facebook has been liked by over 19,000 people, most of these coming after news reports on the de-recognition. APSC’s Facebook page published its first post in October 2014 discussing the Centre’s decision to give Sanskrit language a priority over other languages. The second post in November 2014 condemns the beef ban in Maharashtra.

A February 2015 post debates IIT-M’s decisions to change all the English name boards and laboratory names to Sanskrit.Following the de-recognition by IIT-M, APSC through its FB page thanked people and groups for support. It also alleged that Vivekananda Study Circle, a group has existed over 15 years with no hassles, which is in contradiction to the treatment meted out to APSC by the IIT-M administration. It has also accused other Hindutva groups on campus for campaigning against it.

APSC’s Facebook’s page has attracted both positive and negative remarks. For example, “University is a place for politics, politics of humanity, politics of compassion, politics of equality. Go ahead comrades, we are with you,” supporter Ram Gopal said. “Stop spreading hatred this caste venom. You are resurfacing the caste issue and dividing Indian society,” said Vijay Kumar. Search results for APSC on Facebook are also multiplying with many namesake groups being formed in other IITs and universities such as JNU.

Much of the turmoil over this issue is happening outside IIT-M gates and on social networking sites. The campus has been relatively peaceful, said a student, adding that protests were not going to die down any time soon.