NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Thursday wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking why the Centre recommended the appointment of JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, accusing him of leaving no stone unturned in "destroying" the University.
This comes ahead of the event where the Prime Minister is scheduled to unveil a statue of Swami Vivekananda at the JNU campus today, via video conferencing.
"Why did your government recommend the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor who has left no stone unturned in destroying a university that produces Nobel laureates?" the Student's Union stated in the letter on behalf of the JNU community.
"We write to you in the knowledge that you are scheduled to be involved in an inauguration ceremony at Jawaharlal Nehru University. We are the elected representative body of students in the JNU campus and our election has been upheld by the Honourable Delhi High Court in its verdict dated September 17-09-19. It is a pity that the Vice-Chancellor appointed by your government fails to follow the same process of democracy and recognise us, by virtue of which you hold your constitutional post," JNUSU added.
"We see your decision to accept the invitation for the event today as a token of your support for the actions of the JNU vice-chancellor," the JNUSU said asked the PM to "hold the Vice-Chancellor accountable for the failures and mismanagement."
Over the past several months, the JNUSU has shared an uneasy relationship with the Vice-Chancellor.
Reportedly, after the JNU campus saw a violent incident on January 5, Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar faced unprecedented criticism from across the board as students, teachers and alumni called for his resignation.