HYDERABAD: After holding protests and burning copies of the rustication order against the PhD scholar Kaluram Palsaniya, who is also the national co-convenor of ABVP, on Tuesday, three students from the right-wing student outfit staged a relay hunger strike demanding immediate revocation of the rustication.
The son of a farmer and a first generation learner, Palsaniya, fears a year-long rustication would ruin his career prospects. “I have struggled a lot to reach this position academically. Such a punishment is a conspiracy to end my future prospects and career because I have been active in raising student-related issues on the campus,” he alleged.
Palsaniya was handed out the rustication order after he abused Economics professor, K Laxminarayana, on social media following a question in the Economics question paper during the semester-end examinations on saffronisation of education in public universities. Though he apologised and pulled down the post, the Proctorial Board awarded him a year-long rustication from the hostel and a fine of `30,000.
He has also accused the University administration of being partisan by not questioning the rationale behind asking such “unwarranted’ politically charged question in an economics question paper.He added, “This drastic step is nothing but an attempt to muzzle my freedom of expression. Shouldn’t prof Laxminarayana be pulled up for politicising the classroom?”
The University of Hyderabad meanwhile has refuted the allegations and stated that only students studying a subject can raise objections pertaining to the content of its syllabus with the dean of the department.