Senior BJP leader and former Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Murli Manohar Joshi on January 9 sought the removal of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar for failing to implement the Ministry’s proposal to settle the fee increase issue.
“There are reports that the Ministry had twice advised the Vice-Chancellor to implement certain reasonable and working formula for resolving the issue of enhanced fees... He was also advised to reach out to the teachers and the students. It is shocking that the Vice-Chancellor is adamant in not implementing the proposal. This attitude is deplorable and, in my opinion, such a Vice-Chancellor should not be allowed to continue,” Dr. Joshi wrote on his verified Twitter handle.
He made these comments after reports emerged that Mr. Kumar had been presented with, and refused to implement, a compromise formula between the Ministry and the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), of which members were striking against the proposed increase in tuition, mess and utility fees.
This increased the tensions between the administration and the JNUSU, culminating into the January 5 attack on the campus by masked intruders, which left several students and a faculty member injured.
Dr. Joshi’s comments mark a rare intervention from the senior leader. He is part of the BJP’s Margdarshak Mandal, which had last spoken about its concerns over the party’s organisational culture after the results of the 2015 Bihar Assembly election.
