JNUTA says NIRF rankings are proof of struggles of teachers, students

Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) on Monday attacked Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar after the controversial university was rated second in the NIRF ratings, claiming that this vindicated the relentless battle that faculty, students, and staff have waged against his "destructive agenda for the last four-and-a-half years has not been in vain".

Accepting due credit for JNU retaining its top position as second highest rated University for the second year in a row, JNUTA, in an open letter to Prof Kumar, said that while participating in any rankings game was not its objective, the NIRF 2020 results suggest that "there is recognition, even unwittingly, of the fact that these struggles that have reinforced and kept alive the spirit of the University."

The letter, signed by JNUTA president D K Lobiyal and JNUTA Secretary Surajit Mazumdar, also held the Vice-Chancellor responsible for "unleashing a war against your own institution" by systematically attacking everything that went into creating the unique synergy between inclusiveness and academic excellence that gave JNU its name and reputation and throwing the Act, Statutes, Ordinances, Regulations, norms and conventions by the wayside through extreme centralisation of powers.

Jawaharlal Nehru University has in the past year been in the eye of the storm over protests by students against the hostel fee hike, the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and opposition to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) resulting in violence unleashed on JNU students who have been constantly targeted for their so-called "anti-national" activities by right wing organisations who have been demanding that the university be shut down.