In the second week of October, students affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) burst crackers after the Vice-Chancellor of a university in Jaipur’s Jobner was suspended by Governor Haribhau Bagade following “various serious complaints received against him”, including from the ABVP.
This was not the first time that a V-C, or a Kulguru as they are called in the state, was suspended or removed in Rajasthan following complaints of irregularities, including from the ABVP. So far this year, the V-Cs of four state universities have been removed by the Governor in this manner, while a fifth has resigned under pressure.
In August, Dr Arun Kumar, the V-C of Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner, and the acting V-C of Agriculture University, Jodhpur, was removed. As per the Governor’s office, “several serious complaints were received against Dr Kumar”, and the Divisional Commissioner, Jodhpur, was directed to investigate. The inquiry report found Kumar guilty of “willful omission to implement the provisions” of the University Act, as well as “misuse of powers vested in him, causing financial loss to the University, etc.”
“We met the Governor three-four times to highlight the irregularities; the first such meeting was in November 2024. Then we held press conferences and a protest that lasted 23 days,” said Naveen Choudhary, a student at the university who was an ABVP prant sanyojak at the time. Dr Kumar did not respond to requests for a statement.
On October 7, Dr Balraj Singh, V-C of Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University in Jaipur’s Jobner, was suspended by the Governor for “taking policy decisions in the last three months of his tenure and various serious complaints received against him.” The Governor’s office said that Singh was responsible for “dismissal and transfer of personnel by going beyond his rights and jurisdiction mentioned in the University Act…”
Singh’s tenure was supposed to end just seven days later, on October 14. Students affiliated with the ABVP, who had been protesting against him for a long time, burst crackers and burned an effigy to celebrate his suspension.
Singh told The Indian Express, “What is happening is the highest form of conspiracy and goondagardi (hooliganism). V-Cs can’t do in ten years what I did in three years.”
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On ABVP, he said that “I won’t call them ABVP, but goondas, badmash and criminals … there is a nexus which is doing this.” He said that he has been with the Sangh since 1990 and is principled, unlike some of those associated with the university now.
“V-Cs who came from ‘outside’ are being forced to leave, be it in Bikaner or Udaipur. I am from Haryana, but I have spent 20 years in Rajasthan and 16-and-a-half years in Delhi. But they are still counting me as an outsider and removing those appointed by the previous Governor (Kalraj Mishra),” Singh alleged.
Singh approached the High Court against his suspension, where Justice Ashok Kumar Jain set aside his suspension — on the day of his retirement — saying, “It is apparent on record that the Chancellor acted in haste in drawing a conclusion to place the present petitioner under suspension, and there is no basis on record to justify suspension of the present petitioner…”
Singh wasn’t the first VC to be penalised days before the end of his tenure. Professor K L Shrivastava, VC of Jai Narain Vyas University in Jodhpur, was suspended by the Governor on February 10, four days before his retirement. As per the Governor’s office, he was suspended “on the basis of the investigation report of the Divisional Commissioner, Jodhpur”. “Serious allegations against him of misuse of position, negligence in government work and causing financial loss to the university were found prima facie proven,” the Governor’s office said.
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Like with Jobner University, ABVP members who had been protesting against Shrivastava celebrated by bursting crackers. Shrivastava said, “I was suspended on February 10, and my term was ending on February 14. None of the charges against me were true. That’s all I would like to say.”
On November 11, Ramesh Chandra, the VC of Maharaja Surajmal Brij University, Bharatpur, was removed by the Governor for allegedly not following the University Act and statutes. An inquiry found that apart from misusing the university’s resources and funds and making irregular payments, “the allegations of acting arbitrarily against rules and regulations, violating the rules of the Finance Department and causing financial loss to the university have been found to be proven” against him.
ABVP’s prant seh-mantri, Nitesh Choudhary, a student in an affiliated college, said the ABVP had been protesting for about a year and a half before Chandra was removed. “We also requested the Governor to take action against others involved. His office then took it up too and wrote a letter in this regard,” he said.
Chandra told The Indian Express, “Not a single allegation was proved. ABVP and RSS’s prant pracharak orchestrate the allegations. They have been against all the VCs appointed by (previous) Governor Kalraj Mishra. Are all of us dishonest? Then why were we appointed?”
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Defending his actions in the university, he said the education system in Rajasthan has been destroyed, and that ABVP has an “important role” in it. “They want funds,” he said. “You have to give ABVP boys the contracts for the cycle stand, canteen… criminals have joined ABVP.” He said that he joined the Sangh in 1965, “but we were never taught such things.”
More recently, the VC of Udaipur’s Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Sunita Mishra, first went on leave and later resigned following protests on the campus against her following her comments calling Aurangzeb “an able ruler” during a conference on September 12. Her resignation was accepted following an inquiry report by the Divisional Commissioner on the “various complaints” against her.
Those who protested against her were from the ABVP, NSUI and some caste outfits. Students had locked her chamber from the outside for hours, burnt her effigy, smeared her photos with black ink, and written to the Governor seeking her resignation.
“We sat on an indefinite protest against her for 17 days. Earlier, the opposition against her was within the university, but following her (Aurangzeb) comments, the opposition to her grew wider,” said Kuldeep Singh, the 2022 Student Union president of the university and the current prant seh-mantri with ABVP.
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When contacted, the Governor’s office declined to comment. Asked about the action against VCs this year, Dr Prithvi Raj, Secretary to the Governor, said “No comments.” Governor Haribhau Bagade, associated with the Sangh since his childhood, is a six-term MLA from Maharashtra who has held various portfolios as a minister in the state. In 2004, he was made the Vice President in the party’s state unit and has also been the Assembly Speaker in Maharashtra.
On whether the Governor was acting under pressure from ABVP, Arvind Bhati, one of the most prominent ABVP leaders in the state and its University Convenor for Jodhpur region – one of the three in Rajasthan – said, “The Governor draws from his long experience and understands things. On the basis of that experience, he and his advisors make decisions. The ABVP has no viewpoint on his decisions.”
“If any Vice Chancellor feels that action was taken against them under pressure from a student organisation, then they should approach a higher authority and prove their innocence. Else, it would be understood that there were irregularities during their tenure on the basis of which the Governor took action against them,” said Bhati, a former student union president of the Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur.
