The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on Thursday decided to scrap all committees with non-government members under the Higher and Technical Education Department.
The move comes after Congress leader Ashish Deshmukh demanded that the State government remove all vice-chancellors (V-Cs) from State universities who have links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and were appointed during the term of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Mr. Deshmukh alleged that the violent attacks on students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University on January 5 were made possible because of the university’s administration having people who followed the ideology of the RSS. Mr. Deshmukh said the V-C of JNU, M. Jagadesh Kumar, is also believed to be a follower of the RSS ideology. “So to avoid any JNU-type incidents in Maharashtra’s universities, the government should remove the V-Cs who have links with the RSS,” he said.
On Thursday, State Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant decided to cancel committees with non-government members after holding a review meeting of his department. He said new committees would be formed soon.
An officer, who was present at the meeting, said, “The previous government had included outsiders of their choice. The minister thought it was important to not continue with the previous committees and therefore the decision to scrap them has been taken.”
On Mr. Deshmukh’s demand to cancel the appointment of V-Cs with RSS links, Mr. Samant said the government held the opinion that there should be no politics over such posts. “However, I will speak to the Chief Minister on this issue and a decision will be taken soon,” said Mr. Samant.
Meanwhile, the BJP said the demand reeked of revenge politics. “Even if a V-C adheres to the RSS ideology, that does not mean he is anti-India or pro-Pakistan. All appointments of V-Cs are as per the law. If this government is going to withdraw these appointments, then it is clear that the government is functioning with the aim of revenge politics,” said BJP MLA Ashish Shelar.
