Page 56 - EW-January-2026

Cover Story

of performance in the university’s own
entrance test (now they are admitted
on basis of CUET (Common Univer-
sity Entrance Test) conducted by the
Central government’s National Test-
ing Agency), apart from economics
Nobel laureate (2019) Dr. Abhijit
Banerjee, JNU’s record of produc-
ing internationally celebrated alumni
over a period of 56 years is somewhat
underwhelming. However, it has
shaped nationally celebrated scholars
(historians Romila Thapar, Ramach-
andra Guha, sociologist Jean Dreze);
political theorist Yogendra Yadav;
the late CPM general secretary Sita-
ram Yechury and incumbent Union
finance and foreign affairs ministers VCs Jagadesh Kumar & Santishree Pandit (right): institutional character change charge
Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishan-
kar. Right wing critics of this allegedly wielding shakha lathis. tion (JNUTA) says: “JNU has suffered
“mollycoddled” university say that in Comments recently elected JNUSU terribly under the effects of concerted
terms of cost-benefit ratio this show- President Aditi Mishra: “You see ISK- attacks it has faced since February
piece university (annual grant from CON preachers at every corner of 2016. The vicious campaign slander-
the Union Budget: Rs.517.97 crore in JNU selling the Bhagavad Gita. Can ing the image of the institution, its
2022-23) hasn’t delivered. you imagine how the administration faculty, and its students, that was un-
B E THAT AS IT MAY, THERE or the Quran?” the beginning of a long drawn process
leashed at that point of time was only
would react if preachers sell the Bible
of sapping the institution of the vital
is unanimity in this privi-
However, JNU Vice Chancellor
leged institution of higher
learning that after the BJP and alumna Santishree Dhulipuli energies that underlay its remarkable
Pandit sees nothing wrong in the
achievements and earned the insti-
came to power at the Centre in 2014, RSS parades, known as path sancha- tution such great prestige across the
it has been labelled a staunch Left bas- lan being staged on campus. “GenZ country and the world. What has fol-
tion. Since then, JNU has been rou- seems to be less interested in Left and lowed has been a systematic process
tinely vilified by the media and the extreme Left politics. This is the third of undermining the institution from
government for the “anti-national” year there has been a path sanchalan. within, with the office of the Vice
character of its students who raised There is a change and weakening of Chancellor serving as its hotbed.”
slogans of azadi for Kashmir at a the Left among faculty and students,” Pandit denies these charges. “JNU-
protest in February 2016 and were she told EducationWorld. TA is full of half truths to help their
charged with sedition. One of them, Certainly, the university has un- fake narrative. The truth is that JNU
Umar Khalid, has been in Tihar Jail dergone a transformation on three is back to research and academics.
since September 2020, accused of in- important counts: composition of its We've had four years of academics and
volvement in the Delhi riots and con- students, its faculty and the nature of research in a peaceful yet vibrant at-
sistently denied bail, except for a week its academics. Once a bastion of liberal mosphere. In April, JNU was awarded
off in 2024 for a family wedding. values, where students and teachers the prestigious PAIR (Partnerships for
After the exit of vice chancellor engaged in debates, where teachers Accelerated Innovation and Research)
Sudhir Sopory in 2016, and installa- had a say in how their departments grant, becoming a Hub institution to
tion of M. Jagadesh Kumar, and were run, and where teaching-learn- mentor other universities in basic sci-
later Santishree Dhulipuli Pandit in ing was of global standard, JNU is ences,” says Pandit.
2022, the character of the university slowly being turned into an institution The PAIR grant of the Anusand-
has changed. What was once frowned where decision making lacks transpar- han National Research Foundation is
upon is happening routinely. Dozens ency, students are being policed, and a major Indian government initiative
of RSS swayamsevaks often march now the focus is on Indian knowledge launched under the National Educa-
across the campus with drums, trum- systems. tion Policy (NEP) 2020 to boost re-
pets, and clashing cymbals, accom- In its annual report published last search in universities by pairing less-
panied by ABVP students/activists October, the JNU Teachers’ Associa- resourced institutions with top-tier

56 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2026