The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) has called for a nationwide protest and demanded the resignation of Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit over her recent statement, which compared the rights of Dalits to being “drugged by victimhood.”
The VC made the statement during a 52-minute interview with The Sunday Guardian, published as a podcast on February 16. She also talked about the student protests on campus and the role of the Left in JNU.
The interview gained criticism from the student union body. In a statement, the JNUSU has said, “The shocking remarks of the Vice Chancellor of JNU, Professor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, with reference to the UGC Equity Regulations, and the grotesque ‘social analysis’ she offered in justification, have once again exposed the fact that she is unfit to occupy the office.”
“Strangely, she has picked on these regulations as the one in relation to which to make this an assertion, blissfully ignoring both the long history of struggle behind these regulations, including those that lead to judicial directives, as well as the far higher lack of transparency and due deliberation that is characteristic of the enactment of virtually every other regulation of the UGC,” the statement added.
The statement comes after the comments the vice chancellor made while speaking on social justice during a podcast released on February 16.
“Even more bizarre is the JNU VC’s claim that such regulations are unnecessary and only serve the purpose of opening up old ‘wounds,'” the statement said.
“She did so partisanly, after having proudly asserted her own political-ideological identity and preferences. She did, however, in the process of trying to ‘explain’ the choices of students in the elections, make the argument that JNUSU elections are ‘intellectual battles’ and to get the support of students, candidates have to be ‘good students,” it added.
Labelling the remarks as “abhorrent,” the JNUSU said such reviews highlight a deep insensitivity towards the history of structural injustice on the campus.
“This is not merely an individual opinion but a worldview that denies the lived realities of Dalits and other marginalized communities,” JNUSU said.
“This is social progress being reduced to individual career advancement, and invoking the reality of gender and caste discrimination is, in her view, absolutely fine when it is limited to rationalizing a purely personal objective,” it stated.
The JNUSU called on student organizations and unions across the country to strongly condemn the remarks and announced a “National Protest Day” on Saturday, February 21, pressing for the vice-chancellor’s resignation.
