New Delhi: BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Tuesday, February 8, criticised the Union government’s decision to appoint Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit as vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, saying such “mediocre appointments serve to damage our human capital and our youth’s future”.
“With few higher education institutions on a par with global standards,” he said, “India needs to have right leaders to shape the journey for universities likely to succeed and, as such, appointing someone with little to offer in academic vision, credentials or even the ability to communicate, is a path to mediocrity and long-term illiteracy for our human capital”.
Gandhi shared on Twitter the press release put out by Pandit after she took over, and said this is an exhibition of “illiteracy”.
He said, “This press release from the new JNU VC is an exhibition of illiteracy, littered with grammatical mistakes (would strive vs will strive; students friendly vs student-friendly; excellences vs excellence). Such mediocre appointments serve to damage our human capital & our youth’s future.”
This press release from the new JNU VC is an exhibition of illiteracy,littered with grammatical mistakes (would strive vs will strive;students friendly vs student-friendly;excellences vs excellence).Such mediocre appointments serve to damage our human capital & our youth’s future pic.twitter.com/tSanmy3VfR
— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) February 8, 2022
“We need leaders, with the right values, and discipline – not those who cannot do basic due diligence on their first press release with regards to their appointment. A great institution like JNU needs empathy, sensitivity and careful steering, not a loudmouth, with little verbal control,” he added.
Also read: On Twitter, New JNU VC Has Supported Genocide Calls, Attacked Students, Farmers
“Academic credentials and past experience, not retweets, should be the criteria for selection,” he said, in an apparent reference to controversial tweets from her handle, which has now been deleted.
Meanwhile, the JNU teacher’s association has published a cautious note on the appointment, noting that it will present demands for ensuring a non-partisan administration and restoring teaching-learning activities as per statutes and ordinances of the university.
The Union government appointed Pandit as the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.
(With PTI inputs)