'Padma Shri for dismantling JNU': AISA on award for former UGC chairman, M Jagadesh Kumar

The All India Students’ Association (AISA) has strongly criticised the Union government for conferring the Padma Shri award on Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, who was former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor and former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), calling the decision a “reward for dismantling JNU”.

While the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government awarded Kumar with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in the country, AISA called Jagadesh Kumar “the Sanghi poster boy” on a mission to saffronise and destroy progressive and egalitarian institutions.

The student group said Kumar’s tenure as the vice-chancellor of JNU will be remembered “with contempt” by generations of students for his “systematic conspiracy to dismantle the university”.

Jagadesh Kumar’s tenure as JNU VC

M Jagadesh Kumar was appointed as the JNU VC in January 2016. AISA accused Kumar and the then registrar Saurabh Sharma of “orchestrating a public trial of JNU” after February 9, 2016, which it said contributed to the vilification of the university at the national level.

“He was also the one who shielded Sanghi lumpens with complete impunity after Najeeb disappeared in October 2016, following a brutal assault by a gang of ABVP-affiliated goons,” it said.

The student body also accused him of introducing large-scale seat cuts in MPhil and PhD programmes in 2017, which they claimed restricted access to higher education and research for thousands of students.

It also blamed his administration for attempting to impose compulsory attendance in 2018 and for the steep hostel fee hike that prolonged student protests. “When thousands of students mobilised to protest this massive fee hike, it was Mamidala’s administration that unleashed the ABVP on JNU students, leading to the wanton violence of 5 January 2020,” it said.

Allegations of RSS-linked faculty recruitment

In an official statement, AISA alleged that Jagadesh Kumar during his tenure as JNU VC “systematically destroyed democratic institutions” within the university, including the Academic Council and Boards of Studies, and of disbanding the Gender Senstitation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).

Students also alleged that his administration protected former professor Atul Johri despite multiple sexual harassment complaints filed by women research scholars.

Faculty members who did not align with his authoritarian decisions faced denial of promotions and arbitrary transfers “overnight”. The organisation also alleged that faculty recruitment during his tenure increasingly favoured individuals affiliated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

After leaving JNU, Jagadesh Kumar was appointed as the UGC chairman, where he continued to promote policies that “advance privatisation and weaken public education”, AISA alleged.

“Today, this very person is being awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award of the country. We express our unequivocal contempt for both Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar and the regime that has chosen to honour him for his repeated conspiracies against JNU and public higher education,” it said.