Santishree Pandit: The Twitter account was deactivated yesterday.
Santishree Dhulipadi Pandit, the new Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice Chancellor, has denied she was ever on Twitter after a huge controversy over hate posts from an unverified, now-deleted account in her name.
"I am not on Twitter, I don't have a Twitter handle," Santishree Pandit told NDTV.
"Nonsense is being spread. I don't know who started this Twitter," she asserted, questioning why the tweets had surfaced right after her appointment.
Soon after her appointment was announced, screenshots of controversial tweets from the account @SantishreeD emerged on social media. The tweets described protesting farmers as "parasites" and "dalals (middlemen)" and appeared to support posts trolling journalists and politicians.
"There is no question of denying. I never had a Twitter handle. These are planned narratives. How can tweets come out as soon as I was appointed? It was pre-planned," Ms Pandit said, adding that she was "shocked" to see them.
The Twitter account was deactivated yesterday.
"I don't know who it was and who deactivated. I don't even know what those tweets are," she said.
Calling the controversy "unfortunate", she said: "Don't attack me like this."
Ms Pandit said people could not digest her appointment had wanted to discredit her.
"This is a tectonic shift. Because a woman from the state of Tamil Nadu has been appointed. Why was it not done so far? This is a paradigm shift. Many are not able to digest this."
She also rubbished criticism of her ideological leanings and described herself as completely "non-partisan".
"I don't belong to any political party. I am non-partisan," she insisted.
Some users also pointed out that a one-member inquiry had indicted her in 2009 for "misconduct and moral turpitude" over irregularities in admissions in the PIO (Person of Indian Origin) quota between 2002 and 2007, when she headed the Pune university's International Students Centre.
Reports said Ms Pandit was investigated over allegations that she had violated rules while granting admission to 1,800 students without approval.
She said she was absolved of the charge by the foreign ministry.
"I have replied, that was resolved. I was given a clean chit by the Ministry of External Affairs. See my vigilance report. I have shared my documents with Maharashtra, you can pick it up from there," she told NDTV.
Ms Pandit's first press statement after her appointment also went viral as many users, including BJP MP Varun Gandhi, grammar-checked the text and flagged many errors.
"I am a thorough academic. Please go through my CV. Is this a way to welcome a woman? See my biodata. Why aren't you looking at my positives?"