SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY - Magsaysay Awardee Pandey Purged from BHU on ‘Anti-National’ Charge // Sandeep Pandey "The RSS is conspiring to gain a hold of all academic institutions"
NB: The Sangh Parivar is clearly working overtime to establish a totalitarian regimentation of the minds of all Indians. If there is a disruptive force working to disturb national integrity (and if 'nation' means the Indian people and not some ideal concept of their imagination), it is the Parivar - DS
The teaching contract of well-known educationist,
social activist and Gandhian, Sandeep Pandey, at Banaras Hindu University’s
Indian Institute of Technology has been terminated prematurely on charges of
his being “involved in anti-national activities and a Naxalite” and for
allegedly “showing the banned documentary on the Nirbhaya case, ‘India’s
Daughter’” to his students. Pandey, who won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award –
considered the ‘Asian Nobel’ – in the ’emergent leadership’ category in
2002, said, “I was informed of the decision taken at a meeting of the
Board of Governors (BoG) by Rajeev Sangal, the director of IIT-BHU, on January
1, though I am yet to receive an official letter conveying it.”
The contract of Pandey, who has been a visiting professor at
the Development Studies wing of IIT-BHU for the last two and a half years, was
to get over in July this year. Says Pandey, “In a recent board meeting, the vice
chancellor of BHU, who was made chairman of the IIT BoG by the Union HRD
minister bypassing the panel of five names recommended by a resolution of the
board, Prof. G.C. Tripathi, and dean of faculty affairs, IIT, BHU, Prof.
Dhananjay Pandey – both gentlemen associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh –
primarily forced the decision. The charges against me are that I am a Naxalite,
showed a banned documentary on the Nirbhaya case and am involved in
anti-national activities.”
Reportedly, both Tripathi and Pandey took the decision on
the basis of a news report published in a Hindi newspaper accusing Pandey
of being anti-national. States Lucknow-based Pandey, “I wish to clarify that I am
not a Naxalite. The ideology that I would consider myself closest to is
Gandhian. But I do identify with the causes taken up by Naxalites even though I
may not agree with their methods. I also think that it requires a lot of
courage and sacrifice to be a Naxalite and I certainly don’t have that kind of
resolve.”
In 1991, Pandey co-founded Asha for Education, a
not-for-profit organisation to provide education to underprivileged children
which now has its presence in almost all states of the country. He also
co-founded the well-known grassroots organisation National Alliance of People’s
Movements (NAPM).
Pandey said the banned documentary on the Nirbhaya case was
to be screened in his Development Studies class during a semester of the
academic year 2014-15 but the decision was withdrawn after the intervention of
the chief proctor of BHU and the SHO of Lanka Police Station just before the
class was to begin. “However, a discussion on the issue of violence against
women in our society was conducted after screening a different documentary,” he
added.
The one-of-a-kind Pandey, who doesn’t wear ironed clothes,
avoids milk (he feels cows produce milk for their young ones) and who led an
India-Pakistan peace march to Multan in 2005, reiterates, “I don’t believe in
the idea of a nation or national boundaries, which I think are responsible for
artificial divisions among human beings similar to ones on the basis of caste
or religion. Hence, I cannot be anti or pro-nation. I am pro-people. I am not a
nationalist but a universalist.” He says he has no regret about the BoG’s
decision “as it was not taken based on my academic performance.”
Allegations against Pandey of supporting Naxalites are not
new. In 2002, he, along with some well-known activists, was dragged into a
controversy for attending the inaugural function of a leftist outfit where the
kin of some Naxalites killed in a police action in Bihar were honoured. In
2010, his visit to the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh – where the Maoists
are active – for a public hearing of NAPM against the local administration met
with opposition from some people, which his NAPM colleague and well-known
anti-dam activist Medha Patkar later accused of being “stage managed”.
The Wire couldn’t get a confirmation of Pandey’s
removal from the BHU administration as all attempts to contact IIT-BHU
director Rajeev Sangal and also VC Tripathi’s office met with no response.
http://thewire.in/2016/01/06/magsaysay-awardee-pandey-purged-from-bhu-on-anti-national-charge-18670/
Sandeep Pandey: "The RSS is conspiring to gain a hold of all academic institutions"
see also
I am an alumnus of BHU only. I did my engineering from the
same university in 1992-1996 and I have been teaching here since 2013 as a
visiting faculty. My contract here was yearly and on renewable basis. I was
teaching a few branches of chemical engineering and a development studies
course which I floated during my tenure. There were more than 150 students registered
for that course. Last night [January 6], I received the formal communication
from the university’s end that my tenure has been discontinued and there were
no academic reasons given for it.
Ever since the current Modi government came into power, some
sections have been trying to complain about me to the Ministry of Human
Resources Development. The HRD minister Smriti Irani also called the Director
Rajeev Sangal and told him that I am politically active and my actions need to
be controlled. In another instance, the Vice Chancellor GC Tripathi got
miffed at me for sitting at a protest with 40 contract employees of BHU who
were ousted recently. I just supported them but VC asked me why did I feel the
need to go there. He even said that if I want to be Jayaprakash Narayan then I
should quit the university and join politics.
In another meeting, Professor Dhananjay Pandey, who is
associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, went on to say that people who
should be in jail are part of the faculty here but he didn’t take my name. But
he didn’t renew my contract and it was delayed for three months before the
director acted on it. They have alleged that I am a Naxalite and involved in
anti-national activities. They had decided long ago that I need to be shown the
door, they were just looking for the right opportunity. In the meeting, they
forced the director to remove me from my position.
The director was the one who appointed me and he was in my
favour but people with RSS links pushed their way through. They don’t have any
proof to back their allegations against me which is why their letter is so
cleverly framed that it can’t be taken up in the court. It doesn’t mention any
reason whatsoever but I am not going to be quieted down.
I will use the Right to Information to ask for the minutes
of that meeting and if there are these allegations there then I will definitely
move court on this. Around 2002, I had attended an event of Communist Party of
India (Marxist-Leninist) from where it all started. Back then, this was an
underground organisation. Some families of former Naxalites were being
felicitated in that meeting and I was merely on the stage there. And that’s
when the RSS activists started saying that I am a Naxalite.
Moreover, I was in the citizens Defence Committee
constituted for Prof SAR Gilani who was accused and later acquitted of all
charges of his involvement in the Parliament attacks of 2001. They use that
against me to say that I am an anti-national and a terrorist. The real problem that the government and the right-wing
agents is that I work among the students on the campus and fight on issues. I
run a forum in the name of Acharya Narayan Dev who has been a VC of BHU, we
discuss social and development issues like farmer suicides, poverty and
economic inequality there. The forum was getting popular among the students.
We worked for small farmers, labourers who need help in
fighting for their rights. We raised an agitation against Coca Cola, fought
against land acquisition bill and organised marches. They think that if I am not here, right-wing elements will
be able to gain more ground in the campus. They are worried about securing
their support among the students. Students have a nimble brain and they are
attracted to the kind of ideologies they are exposed to and they want to expand
their territory.
An ideological battle is being waged in our educational
institutions. The RSS is trying to gain control over all institutions to
propagate its own ideology. It’s sad that very incompetent people are being brought
in at the helm of important institutions. Educational standards have gone out
of the window. Nobody discussed any of my academic credentials and all the
discussions revolved around just my political record and these baseless
allegations. This is a conspiracy to take control over educational institutions
and dominate the ideological discourse.
Going forward, I don't think I will fight for my job any
longer even though I want to teach. It was a contractual thing so I don't see
the point. But the larger battle for freedom of expression and human rights
will continue. As told to Mayank Jain for Scroll
