Wardha varsity expels six students who protested against Govt, wrote letter to PM

By Dilip -
NB: The serial Emergency imposed by the Sangh Parivar government continues. This is an assault on our constitutional freedoms. The RSS never stops complaining about Indira Gandhi's aothoritarianism. Are the actions of their government any different? DS
In an unusual interpretation of the model code of conduct, six students of the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAHV) in Maharashtra’s Wardha have been expelled for organising a dharna and writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi protesting, among other things, rising incidents of mob lynching and “shielding” of leaders accused of rape. In an order issued October 9, Acting Registrar Rajeshwar Singh said the students were being expelled for “violating the 2019 assembly election code of conduct and interfering in the judicial process” by organising a group dharna. 

 Chandan Saroj, one of the six students thrown out, said though some 100 students were present at the dharna on October 9, university authorities took action “selectively against three Dalit and three OBC students”. He said “there were many upper caste students too in solidarity with us”. The expulsion order identified the students as Chandan Saroj (M Phil, Social Work); Neeraj Kumar (PhD, Gandhi and Peace Studies); Rajesh Sarthi; Rajneesh Ambedkar (Women’s Studies Department); Pankaj Vela (M Phil, Gandhi and Peace Studies); and, Vaibhav Pimpalkar (Diploma, Women’s Studies Department).

The All India Students’ Association, in a Facebook post, said Rajesh Sarthi is an AISA activist. It called for reversal of the university order, saying “freedom of expression of the students cannot be curtailed”. Stating that women who complained of rape by BJP’s Kuldeep Singh Sengar and Chinmayanand were being “brutally victimized”, it went on to list issues such as Kashmir, “communal and casteist mob lynchings”, the murder of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand, the attack on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon and the demolition of a Ravidas temple in Delhi.... read more:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/maharashtra-varsity-expels-six-scholars-who-wrote-letter-to-pm-modi-over-lynching-6064880/

 see also
Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Serial authoritarianism picks out targets one by one
State protected hooliganism in Ramjas College
Khaled Ahmed: Why India must not reject Gandhi and imitate Pakistan
Pakistan’s universities are not counted among the world’s top universities. In fact, even in Pakistan nobody in pursuit of knowledge sets much store by them. The reason is an ideology based on religion which doesn’t brook revision. One thought India would learn from this negative example but it has actually succumbed. Following religion, India can start looking like Pakistan. But what will happen to the Indians and Pakistanis deeply convinced by the “inclusive” faith of Mahatma Gandhi who believed in Hindus and Muslims living together as one nation?

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