No lessons learnt

Ever since coming to power, the Narendra Modi government has been under attack from Opposition, academics and intelligentsia. The main target of this attack seems to be the Human Resource Development ministry, which has been accused of trying to implement the saffron agenda and promoting certain political icons at the cost of others.

With Smriti Irani at the helm, the HRD ministry has been riddled with one controversy after the other. Central universities are established through an Act of Parliament and are supposed to operate with independence. However, Rohith Vemula’s suicide in University of Hyderabad once again proved that the country’s higher education system is not all that independent.

There have been allegations that at least two Central ministers and ruling party legislators had been meddling in university affairs. A complaint by Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya against the alleged attack on an activist of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad in August elicited five letters from HRD ministry.

In such earlier events at other central educational institutes, there were allegations of interference by HRD ministry which had reportedly forced IIT Delhi director R. Shegaonkar to resignes in December 2014. In another major controversy last year, chairman of the board of governor of IIT Bombay, Anil Kakodkar, also stepped down following reported differences with HRD Minister over the appointment of IIT directors.

And the chaos isn’t only limited to the HRD ministry. Appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, last July, triggered fierce protests that continue till date. The continued political bickering has also created bad blood between BJP and its NDA ally the LJP as its Parliamentary Board Chairman Chirag Paswan sought a thorough probe into the issue.

However, the Modi government has stuck to its stand and the BJP has also made it clear that it is unlikely to give in to the opposition demand for axing any of the accused ministers. While the party continues to firefight at its own level, four of its ministers, led by Ms Irani, held a joint press conference where they defended the government and accused the opposition of trying to “instigate” students all over the country and claimed it was not a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation as has been projected by some.

Ms Irani denied interference in the University affairs. “Everyone knows that under central law, administrative control is with the university and not with the government,” she said. She claimed that her ministry is bound by rules to acknowledge and forward letters by lawmakers. The ministry has also claimed that all decisions regarding punishment to the suspended Dalit students were taken by the executive council of the university that was put in place during the tenure of previous UPA government.