Chennai:
After an "anonymous complaint" to the central government, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has controversially taken action against a students' study group accused of trying to "spread hatred" towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi through provocative pamphlets and posters.
The Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, a group of around 20 students, has been told that it can't use the auditorium, the IIT email and the institute notice board. This severely cripples its activities.
"We have temporarily derecognised the group. They used IIT's name for publicity without permission. IIT doesn't curtail freedom of expression, but the group violated guidelines," Professor K Ramamurthy, the acting Director of IIT-Madras, told reporters today.
The Union Human Resource Development Ministry had written to IIT-Madras on May 15 that it had received an "anonymous letter" and a pamphlet of the study circle highlighting a critical speech by academician R Vivekananda Gopal. "The Modi government, while carrying forward its Hindutva agenda, is simultaneously assisting the multinational corporates to loot mother India," the professor had said in his speech.
The students' group has denied that it was trying to instigate protests against the government, and says it was never given a chance to explain. "We have not violated the Constitution. The Constitution allows us to criticize the government and its policies," said Abhinav Surya, the head of the study circle.
IIT-M says the group can present its case before the board of students, which will meet after the summer vacation.
The anonymous letter to the government, signed "Students, IIT Madras" alleged that the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle is "creating hatred among students in the name of caste" and also trying to "create hatred against the honourable prime minister and Hindus."
Action against the group has generated a fierce debate on social media and was among the top trends of the day on Twitter.
"Politics need young ppl today. Please dont ban future of india. - IIT Madras," said one tweet.
A Facebook user commented: "This is becoming more and more frequent news nowadays... Criticism is an essential part of democracy."