If there was any doubt at all, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Banaras Hindu University(BHU) Girish Tripathi has set them to rest
The Financial Express reports that after the series of controversies around the Banaras Hindu University –reported extensively by Sabrangindia over the past months the Vice Chancellor has unashamedly made this claim. BHU joined over a dozen premier institutions being targeted by the Modi Regime’s Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) even as #SaveBHUfromRSS started trending on social media.
BHU VC Girish Tripathi has the ignominious record of summarily and illegally expelling Sandeep Pandey, winner of the Ramon Magsaysay award and renowned social activist. When objections surfaced as to his use of the university as an RSS unit, he openly said that there was nothing wrong in establishing an RSS shakha in BHU, since the Indian government itself belonged to the RSS.”Girls who study at night are immoral”, is one of the infamous statements of the Banaras Hindu University VC Girish Tripathi
The university that houses about 40,000 students making it one of the largest residential campuses in India, is facing accusations of rampant sexism by its students. reports suggest that with the appointment of Girish Chandra Tripathi as the Vice Chancellor, the democratic representation of students, teachers and another staff has taken a back seat. Tripathi has been accused of openly endorsing the RSS ideology. Happenings at the bHU have received surprisingly lukewarm coverage in the ‘national’ (read commercial media) raising queries and eyebrows related to whether this soft glove treatment is on account of this university being in prime minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.
Sabrangindia has reported how the college administration has banned the use of mobile phones by girls after 10pm at night. As ridiculous as this may sound, the VC topped it with banning girls to study after 10 pm. His reason for such a rule was that girls who study at night are immoral. This has resulted in the 24×7 library being shut down for girl students at night. the prospectus of the BHU states that bus service can be availed by all the students of the university. Although, it has come to light that the female students have been banned from using it. Female students are also being made to sign affidavits stating that they would not participate or indulge in any protest or agitation. There is also pressure on the guardians and parents of the schools. This is a direct choking off the fundamental rights of an Indian citizen. Female students are also banned for any sort of participation in socio-cultural activities outside the campus.
This discrimination on the basis of gender also exists in the hostels as women are not allowed to consume meat as compared to their male counterparts. VC Girish Tripathi believes that the consumption of non-vegetarian food makes women “impure” in accordance with the Malviya rules. While male students have no curfew time, women have been asked to come back to the campus as early as 8 pm. women wearing short dresses and skirts are reported to have been reprimanded by the administration.
Protests cannot legally be organised by women as they were made to sign a lawful affidavit stating otherwise by the university administration. VC Tripathi has also been seen moral policing around the campus saying that it is aginst Indian culture for boys and girls to hang out together!. The university has repeatedly warned the students that nay such acts would lead to a “category-A punishment”, which can be safely assumed to be a suspension.
A few months ago, the university administration had denied the students’ demand for a cyber library stating the students ‘would’ use it to tune into pornography. The university, it seems remains ignorant about simple security software enabling them to ban porn sites. Although, under current circumstances, if the software is made available, the administration might us it to ban a lot more than just porn. The university administration solely consists of upper cast members of the Hindu community.
Students, though have been reported to have joined hands to form a joint action committee to stop the slow decay of saffronisation from spreading over the university. The committee is to spread information about the wrongs happening inside the walls of BHU to the world.
Tags like #SaveBHUfromRSS and #StopCampusSexism were seen trending on social media with many prominent personalities all over the country were seen criticising the university for its enforcement of draconian traditions.
The BJP led Indian government has often been criticised for its age old views based on the Hindu books of mythology. While the Narendra Modi government has actively avoided any such controversies, it is high time that they step in to understand these issues and stop such rampant violations of fundamental rights of students.