Puducherry: Students and teachers of Pondicherry University responded harshly to the allegations of ‘Islamisation in the university’.
Posters have come up in campus criticising the Centre for ordering an enquiry on a baseless allegation and termed it a move to 'saffronize the education system'.
"What is the point of raising the topic of Islamisation in a university which is having a temple inside it and having departments which conduct 'pooja' on various occasions. They allege that the all these moves are intended to destroy the peaceful atmosphere of the university” said Jyothish KV, postgraduate student of the university.
“It is like blaming a whole community; we are Muslims and coming from Kashmir alone will not make us terrorists,” said another student.
One university teacher on strict conditions of anonymity said that the allegation and enquiry are politically motivated by vested interests.
In a press release here, the Students Federation of India (SFI) alleged that the move was another instance of ‘Brahaminic hegemony which prevails in the higher education sector of the nation, which seeks to subvert the educational progress made by Dalits, Muslims and other backward sections.”
Comparing it with the incident that happened in Hyderabad Central University, the SFI described it as an incident where “MHRD's hindutwa face is exposed once again.”
The SFI held a demonstration inside the university condemning the issue.
Describing it as 'unfortunate', Dr JAK Tareen, former vice-chancellor of the university against whom the allegation was raised, called the critics as ‘jokers’ with vested interests. “After all what does Islamisation means? You can check the facts before making allegations, Pondicherry University has become the fastest growing university with 300 per cent growth when I was the vice-chancellor, and it became an 'A grade' university. You can see the various development projects that I have introduced," he said.
It may be recalled that DC had reported that the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) in September 2015 had asked the university to look into a complaint the Ministry had received regarding “Islamisation” of the university during the vice-chancellorship of Dr JAK Tareen.
The complaint was forwarded from Delhi-based trust namely 'Patriots Forum' and also from the office of the minister of state for food processing industry Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.
The enquiry committee formed by the university found the charges to be baseless.
