New Delhi: Students and teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University have demanded Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit’s resignation after she likened caste-based victimhood to a drug and criticised equity regulations.

The demand follows a February 16 interview on The Sunday Guardian podcast hosted by Joyeeta Basu, wherein Pandit spoke at length regarding the University Grants Commission (UGC) equity regulations, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the recent rustication of five students.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) and the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) issued formal statements condemning her worldview, with the student body calling for a national protest today, February 21.

Comments on UGC Regulations and Dalits

During the interview, Pandit was asked about the UGC equity regulations and the subsequent backlash.

“It was so secretly done, it was not even circulated,” Pandit stated. “Many of us who are part of the system here didn’t even know what was in it. Because an equity regulation cannot be inequitable. Because you cannot give powers to one group and deny the other group of all justice. This goes against the Constitution of India.”

When questioned on the influence of “wokism” on students, Pandit classified the ideology as intellectual terrorism.

“The entire woke thing is you create an artificial enemy… there’s a permanent victimhood,” Pandit stated. “And you cannot progress by being permanently a victim or playing the victim card. This was done for Blacks, the same thing was brought for Dalits here, and you know the question is by making somebody the devil, it’s not easy to progress. It is a temporary type of drug, temporarily trying to say this is the enemy, you shout at it and then you’ll feel good. But it’s not real, it’s manufacturing reality.”

Pandit also spoke on the administration’s decision to rusticate five students for two semesters and impose a Rs 20,000 fine on each, following alleged vandalism of facial recognition equipment at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Library.

“A protest is fine, dissent is fine,” Pandit stated. “But when you cross the borders of vandalism and violence, it is unacceptable. And they destroyed this property, literally broke it down… sat on top of it, took pictures, and they themselves put it on social media. As though they have done something great.”

In the interview, Pandit defended the disciplinary measures, stating the fine represents less than 1% of the public property destroyed. 

“If I don’t take action, I would be thought that I am saying that ‘yes, come do violence, do vandalism, it is acceptable under the law’,” she stated. “There are seven FIRs against them in the Vasant Kunj police station from public groups who just want to maul them up. So we have literally protected them in what frenzy of madness they did we don’t know.”

Statements on RSS affiliation and leadership

Pandit also spoke extensively regarding her association with the RSS and the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, which she credited for shaping her worldview.

“I am proud of my affiliations to the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti,” Pandit stated. She noted that the organisation provided a “universal and unique worldview, teaching appreciation for difference and diversity without inquiring about caste.”

Addressing her role as the first woman Vice-Chancellor of the university, she discussed facing misogyny within the administration.

“There was a myth that women cannot take their decisions, we don’t have a mind of our own, we don’t think,” said Pandit. “And that I disproved, that I don’t listen to anybody. I do what I think is right. So that even today many people find it very difficult to accept, but they’ve finally accepted it.”

Regarding university elections and the left-wing student bodies, she stated that winning requires intellectual merit. “When you want to win elections in JNU, they should be good students as well… this is a place where intellect works.”

‘Chronology of injustice’: Students’ union responds

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) issued a statement expressing shock over the remarks, explicitly linking Pandit’s stated pride in her RSS lineage to her comments on Dalits and the UGC.

The JNUSU noted that her assertions regarding caste victimhood being a “drug” reflected the worldview she was taught at RSS camps.

“This is the chronology we have to understand. The chronology of injustice, caste supremacy, and perpetual systemic exclusion in universities and public spaces,” the JNUSU statement noted.

Condemning the remarks as “blatantly casteist,” the union appealed to student organisations across the country to observe a national protest day on February 21 to demand her resignation.

Teachers demand immediate dismissal

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA), in a detailed statement released on February 20, termed the Vice-Chancellor’s remarks a “grotesque social analysis” and declared her unfit to occupy the office.

The JNUTA strongly criticised her claim that the UGC regulations were enacted secretly, alleging she was “blissfully ignoring” the long history of struggle and judicial directives behind the regulations. The teachers’ body stated that Pandit’s dismissal of caste discrimination as a manufactured reality used to justify a bigoted notion of permanent victimhood was inexcusable.

“This interpretation of the idea of ‘annihilation of caste’ put forward by the JNU VC is nothing short of outrageous and inexcusable. It is a testimony to her intellectual bankruptcy that only brings shame to the University she heads,” the JNUTA statement read.

The association also accused the Vice-Chancellor of hypocrisy regarding her administrative record. Responding to her claims of having faced misogyny while bringing democratic governance to the campus, the JNUTA alleged she had instead converted the university into “an autocracy and a private fiefdom where academic and equity considerations have no priority.”

The teachers further contested her statements on gender representation, accusing her of quoting manufactured data about the proportion of women faculty. The JNUTA alleged that under her tenure, a large number of women faculty have been deprived of rightful promotions, and numerous reserved faculty positions remain unfilled because the Vice-Chancellor found no suitable candidates.

Addressing the rustication of the JNUSU office bearers, the JNUTA highlighted a contradiction in her stance. The body noted that while Pandit claimed student elections require “good students” to engage in intellectual battles, she proceeded to rusticate the entirety of the elected student union leadership.

Calling the interview riddled with falsities, the JNUTA strongly reiterated its demand that Pandit be removed from office immediately.

© The Wire