Book on how RSS "hardliners" captured BHU, other campuses, expelled top academic

By Rajiv Shah
In a controversial decision, in January 2016, the Banaras Hindu University’s Indian Institute of Technology (BHU-IIT) expelled well-known Gandhian academic, educationist and Magsaysay award winning social activist, Prof Sandeep Pandey, allegedly under “hardline” RSS pressure. Despite an Allahabad High Court order, to reinstate him he was not allowed in.
Now Pandey has written an autobiographical book, 'Why I was expelled from Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India”, running into 101 pages, accusing the “parochial” government led by the BJP and its “ideological parent” RSS, for seeking to destroy the academic environment of India’s campuses “in an effort to take them over.”
Introducing the book, whose English edition is available on Kindle, and Hindi edition is online, Pandey says, what has happened to him is continuing “campus after campus”, adding, “Scholars have been made to leave, humiliated, events of organisations believing in ideology different from the Hindtuva ideology of RSS/BJP have been cancelled on campuses at last moment if they were lucky to get initial permission, students have been suspended”.
On the other hand, even as referring to how Rohith Vemula, a Dalit scholar of Hyderabad Central University was forced to commit suicide, and how Kanhaiya Kumar, a backward class scholar of the Jawaharlal Nahru University was sought to be implicated, Pandey says, “Unqualified people belonging to RSS have been appointed to top positions, mythology has been paraded as history/science, research is sought to be controlled, etc., since the BJP government came to power in 2014.”

Sandeep Pandey

Referring to his expulsion from BHU in 2016 on charges that his teachings were anti-national, Pandey says, he was accused of being a “Naxalite sympathiser” and committing a “cyber crime by sharing the link of BBC documentary 'India's Daughters' which was banned by Government of India.”
He continues, “I went to the Allahabad High Court. In spite of getting a wonderful order which upheld my fundamental right to freedom of expression and supported the idea of respect for diversity of thought by quoting none other than the founder of the University, Madan Mohan Malviya, the Vice Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi, whose academic credentials to hold this high post were suspect, did not let me return to campus.”
According to Pandey, “What is happening to our university campuses is part of larger exercise to communalise the society and polarise the voters. In doing so the fascist tendencies of RSS/BJP are killing all spaces of dissent, so essential for any academic activity.”
He adds, “The BHU VC thought that the only reason why students needed a 24 hours internet facility was to be able to watch pornography. The mindset of people in power since 2014 has been anti-intellectual and is causing permanent damage to our academic institutions.”
Stating that the book has been written to “share these concerns so that the fight against retrograde forces could be strengthened, not only to save the academic campuses but also the larger society”, Pandey believes, “The liberal values of liberty, equality, justice, fraternity-sorority and the entire Constitution is under threat today.”

He asserts, “A basic question is confronting Indian society today, whether democracy will survive or not? It is hoped that the book will contribute in some way towards this larger struggle.”
Introducing Pandey in the Foreword to the book, Rajmohan Gandhi -- biographer and research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US, and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi -- has called him one of India's "finest sons", who after obtaining a doctorate in a top American university, "could have created a prosperious life for himslf", but chose instead to return to India and "use his gifted mind to assist the weak and forgotten."
According to Gandhi, while Pandey's "family needs" compelled him to resume teaching at his alma mater, BHU, "Unwilling to silence his conscience, he fought at BHU for the rights of women students."

Later, "When Prof GD Agrawal, crusader for the environment and for a free-flowing Ganga, died from a prolonged fast in June 2018, Pandey ensured that the utlimate sacrifice of Prof Agrawal was made known to as many Indians as possible."

Comments

What Sister Nivedita understood about India that we have forgotten

By Harasankar Adhikari In the idea of a “Vikshit Bharat,” many real problems—hunger, poverty, ill health, unemployment, and joblessness—are increasingly overshadowed by the religious contest between Hindu and Muslim fundamentalisms. This contest is often sponsored and patronised by political parties across the spectrum, whether openly Hindutva-oriented, Islamist, partisan, or self-proclaimed secular.

Safety, pay and job security drive Urban Company gig workers’ protest in Gurugram

By A Representative Gig and platform service workers associated with Urban Company have stepped up their protest against what they describe as exploitative and unsafe working conditions, submitting a detailed Memorandum of Demands at the company’s Udyog Vihar office in Gurugram. The action is being seen as part of a wider and growing wave of dissatisfaction among gig workers across India, many of whom have resorted to demonstrations, app log-outs and strikes in recent months to press for fair pay, job security and basic labour protections.

India’s universities lag global standards, pushing students overseas: NITI Aayog study

By Rajiv Shah A new Government of India study, Internationalisation of Higher Education in India: Prospects, Potential, and Policy Recommendations , prepared by NITI Aayog , regrets that India’s lag in this sector is the direct result of “several systemic challenges such as inadequate infrastructure to provide quality education and deliver world-class research, weak industry–academia collaboration, and outdated curricula.”

The rise of the civilizational state: Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta warns of new authoritarianism

By A Representative Noted political theorist and public intellectual Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta delivered a poignant reflection on the changing nature of the Indian state today, warning that the rise of a "civilizational state" poses a significant threat to the foundations of modern democracy and individual freedom. Delivering the Achyut Yagnik Memorial Lecture titled "The Idea of Civilization: Poison or Cure?" at the Ahmedabad Management Association, Mehta argued that India is currently witnessing a self-conscious political project that seeks to redefine the state not as a product of a modern constitution, but as an instrument of an ancient, authentic civilization.

Gig workers’ strike halts platforms, union submits demands to Labour Ministry

By A Representative India’s gig economy witnessed an partial disruption on December 31, 2025, as a large number of delivery workers, app-based service providers, and freelancers across the country participated in a nationwide strike called by the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU). The strike, which followed days of coordinated protests, shut down major platforms including Zomato , Swiggy , Blinkit , Zepto , Flipkart , and BigBasket in several areas.

Why experts say replacing MGNREGA could undo two decades of rural empowerment

By A Representative A group of scientists, academics, civil society organisations and field practitioners from India and abroad has issued an open letter urging the Union government to reconsider the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and to withdraw the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025. The letter, dated December 27, 2025, comes days after the VB–G RAM G Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16 and subsequently approved by both Houses of Parliament, formally replacing the two-decade-old employment guarantee law.

From Kerala to Bangladesh: Lynching highlights deep social faultlines

By A Representative The recent incidents of mob lynching—one in Bangladesh involving a Hindu citizen and another in Kerala where a man was killed after being mistaken for a “Bangladeshi”—have sparked outrage and calls for accountability.

NYT: RSS 'infiltrates' institutions, 'drives' religious divide under Modi's leadership

By Jag Jivan A comprehensive New York Times investigation published on December 26, 2025, chronicles the rise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — characterized as a far-right Hindu nationalist organization — from a shadowy group founded in 1925 to the world's largest right-wing force, marking its centenary in 2025 with unprecedented influence and mainstream acceptance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi , who joined the RSS as a young boy and later became a full-time campaigner before being deputized to its political wing in the 1980s, delivered his strongest public tribute to the group in his August 2025 Independence Day address. Speaking from the Red Fort , he called the RSS a "giant river" with dozens of streams touching every aspect of Indian life, praising its "service, dedication, organization, and unmatched discipline." The report describes how the RSS has deeply infiltrated India's institutions — government, courts, police, media, and academia — ...

Reshaping welfare policy? G-RAM-G marks the end of rights-based rural employment

By Ram Puniyani With the Ram Janmabhoomi Rath Yatra, the BJP’s political strength began to grow. From then on, it started projecting itself as a “party with a difference.” Gradually, the party’s electoral success graph kept rising. However, many thinkers and writers did not find this particularly worrying at the time, as they saw little difference between the BJP and the ruling Congress. The BJP’s real face began to emerge when it became the principal party of the NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It first came to power for two brief tenures—13 days and then 13 months—and subsequently governed for nearly six years with Vajpayee as Prime Minister. During this period, many of these writers began to understand that the BJP was indeed a “different kind” of party, as even then the process of undermining democratic values and norms had begun. During the first term of the UPA government, several schemes were implemented that were based on the concept of “rights.” These included the right...

Search This Blog