JNU's Former VC M Jagadesh Kumar Thanks Students for Being 'Receptive' to New Ideas

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)‘s former vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar whose tenure was marred by several controversies, on Monday, said that the varsity’s students and colleagues were ”delightfully receptive” to new ideas and changes introduced by the administration in the functioning of the institution.

Kumar who was the JNU VC since 2016, during his tenure has seen controversies including the sedition row of 2016, constant campus unrest and lockdown of his office multiple times to then HRD Minister getting stuck for over six hours at the venue of JNU’s convocation in 2019.

Read|Controversial JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagdeesh is New UGC Chairperson

Kumar who is now appointed as the chairperson of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for a period of five years, in his letter to JNU students and faculty said that he received constructive feedback and suggestions from students that helped in the resolution of issues. “Students and colleagues were delightfully receptive to many new ideas and changes that we introduced in the academic and administrative functioning of the university. I tried always to be available to all the stakeholders – students, staff and faculty members. We used to have weekly afternoons exclusively reserved for such interactions,” he said.

Recalling his appointment as the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Kumar, in a statement, said he did not know anyone in the university when he assumed office in 2016.

“When I entered my office on 27 January 2016, I did not know anyone in the JNU. But now in 2022, my wife and I can very fondly say that we met incredible people at the JNU and enjoyed very pleasant interactions with you and your families. It was only because of this that we had a joyful stay on the campus,” he said. He said it was a great honour to be at the helm of affairs of the JNU and its “transformative growth”.

He also thanked his team members at the university for being “incredibly dedicated”. “Opening of new Schools and Centres, starting of new academic programmes, and making the admission and administrative processes efficient could be realized only because my colleagues had the commitment and conviction to remain focused on the priorities that would enable our university to turn into one of the finest,” he said.

Kumar, who was made the VC in January 2016, had his first brush with controversy as the VC just a week after his appointment when students locked horns with the administration over holding of an event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, reported PTI.

Read|JNU’s New VC Deletes Twitter Account After Old Controversial Tweets Spark Row

Meanwhile, the new VC of JNU has got into controversy even before starting her term. Hours after the announcement of her joining the post, JNU new vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit’s old tweets were resurfaced. In the tweets, the professor has called JNU students ‘fools’ and has referred to farmers as ‘parasites’. Even though the new VC has deleted her Twitter account, many users are floating screenshots of her tweets.

As earlier reported by News18, an unverified Twitter handle — @SantishreeD — had made references to Sharjeel Imam and Nathuram Godse, among others. While there was no confirmation whether or not it was Pandit’s account, the social media handle was taken down hours later. The Twitter account had called liberals as Jihadis and had urged “non-Muslims” to wake up to prevent “Love Jihad”, which she qualifies as “terror by other means”.

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