Expressing dissonance with the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) stance against the policies of Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, a group of “concerned” teachers of JNU met Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday and expressed their anguish against JNUTA. The group of faculty memebers alleged JNUTA of spreading “lies” and “misinformation” so as to create hurdles on the way of plethora of reforms being introduced by the VC.
Recently, JNUTA wrote an open letter to the Human Resource Development Ministry for removal of Vice-Chancellor alleging that VC is “solely responsible for various acts of commission and omission on part of JNU administration which is destroying the premier university”. JUNTA claims that in a referendum on August 7 the faculty voted overwhelmingly in favor of removal of the VC.
“The JNUTA is opposing tooth and nail every policy and plan of the present vice-Chancellor. They are doing it for their vested political interest and are working against the larger interest of students and faculty. On one hand JNU administration is working to introduce innovative ideas, new academic programmes and administrative reforms while on the other hand JNUTA office bearers have been continuously resisting these and creating hurdles,” said Prof. Rupesh Chaturvedi, JNU.
“The autocratic and undemocratic activities by JNUTA are not only most unfortunate but they demoralize JNU's teaching and student community, bring bad name to JNU and disturb the harmony of the university,” he said.
The group of “concerned” teachers was led by Prof. Rana Pratap Singh who was accompanied by Prof. Madhav Govind, Prof. Arun Kharat, Prof Buddha Singh, Prof. Jayant Tripathi, Prof. Mazhar Hussain and Prof. Rupesh Chaturvedi. The group claims to have support of over 200 teachers with 168 faculty members signing on the memorandum submitted to the minister.
JNU teachers are apparently divided into two factions, one under the aegis of JNUTA are opposed to the policies and programmes of VC, while other is openly supporting the administration and VC. The JNUTA opposition to the VC is mainly driven by the “political” reasons, alleged “concerned” teachers.