The controversy over the derecognition of the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC) has brought to the fore the sharp division among students along political lines at the IIT-Madras.
Faculty members and students said student associations aligning both to the Right and Left of the political spectrum have been at loggerheads within the institution, often leading to heated discussions and disputes.
While student associations such as APSC, Chinta Bar and Quest espouse rationalism and Leftist political thoughts, others such as the Vivekananda Study Circle (VSC) and Vande Mataram IIT Madras are known to possess ideas considered to be on the Right of the spectrum. The division comes out in the kind of activities the groups indulge in.
For example, the VSC has organised a number of talks where Hindu spiritual leaders, including those from Ramakrishna Mutt, have participated. Some of these talks have led to controversies on social media, like the lecture given by N. Gopalakrishnan, who founded the Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage, whose mission is to undertake “learning and teaching the ultra ancient heritage of Bharath (India) using ultra modern scientific and technological tools.”
On the other hand, Chinta Bar courted controversy after it organised the ‘Kiss of Love’ campaign on the campus recently.
On Friday, the APSC made the accusation on its twitter page that “at IIT Madras only a certain stream of political activity is considered a #tabooand will be banned.”
Also the group members shared the code of conduct in place for student groups at the IIT and said the Dean of Students is only to be informed of activities. There is no rule that permission had to be sought for every activity.
