JNU's New VC Deletes Twitter Account After Old Controversial Tweets Spark Row

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)‘s new vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit is in controversy even before joining the varsity. Hours after the announcement of her joining the post, Dhulipudi’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.

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”.

After being appointed as the VC of JNU, she said in a statement that her focus “would be in constructing Indo-centric narratives”. Pandit is the first female vice-chancellor of JNU. Reports claim that she was instated as the VC despite reports of misconduct against her at Savitribai Phule University (SPPU). She is currently a Political Science professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration at SPPU. The 59-year-old is also an alumna of JNU where she pursued her MPhil as well as PhD in International Relations.

“The immediate focus of this administration would be to provide clean administration, student-friendly and gender-sensitive environment for academic excellence. We would strive to implement NEP-2020, the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister especially in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary areas of studies, JNU rising to greater heights of academics and research. The focus would be in constructing Indo-centric narratives,” read her statement.

Pandit is also known for her proximity with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). She will be taking over M Jagadesh Kumar. Kumar is now appointed as the chairperson of the UGC. His tenure as JNU VC too has remained controversial.

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