JNUTA begins ‘satyagraha’, calls for three day varsity strike  

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) on Saturday began its "satyagraha" to protest the administration's removal of seven Chairpersons and a Dean and said they would go on a fast and a three-day strike from Monday if the decision was not reversed.

"The decision to remove seven Chairpersons and Deans for not complying with or refusing to implement the recent attendance system is illegal. The teachers will go for three days strike from Monday and will also begin a hunger strike," said JNUTA Secretary Sudhir Kumar Suthar.

To show solidarity to sacked chairpersons and deans, hundreds of teachers and students held a protest march from Ganga Dhaba to Sabarmati Dhaba via the Chandrabhaga hostel.

The JNUTA announced that they are going to stage a protest outside the administration block on Monday and also warned they will undertake a protest march to Parliament.

It also blamed the Vice Chancellor for creating chaos in the campus by announcing "unpleasant orders".

"The JNU adminstration is giving illegal orders and asking us to obey without hearing our opinion," said Kavita Singh, who was removed as the Dean of the School of Arts and Aesthetics.

Criticising the recent attendance system, she said that it will create hurdles for researchers as they can not attend classes on a regular basis.

She said that decision must be taken on consideration of the requirements of different Centres as it may be good for some programmes but not suitable for other research courses.

There are many technical issues that need to be addressed and it can be sorted out through dialogues, but the administration is not willing to do so, she said.

A student pursuing Ph.D. in Modern History said that administration is trying to kill activism by forcing an attendance system. Another student hit out at the varsity administration for it "attempts to destroy the reservation policy by blindly applying various rules such as increasing MPhil-PhD minimum cut off marks, delinking the MPhil-PhD programmes and now implementing the UGC notification changing the roster".

Protesters said that these decisions are cumulatively "aimed at destroying the values of equality and social justice" that have long formed the bedrock of this university.

A protesters said that removal is just an excuse as the present administration is trying to appoint their favourite people onto these post to ensure implementation of their laws in the university.