Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi University: Expulsion of six Dalit-OBC students revoked

After nationwide criticism, the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAHV) in Wardha on Sunday has revoked its expulsion orders on six Dalit-OBC backward research scholars.

National Herald had reported on Friday that six students belonging to the Dalit-OBC category were expelled from the varsity for allegedly “violating the model code of conduct”.

However, the students said that they were expelled because they tried to highlight the issue of lynching and lockdown in Kashmir by writing letters to PM Modi.

Incidentally, the development came hours before prime minister Modi was scheduled to address election rallies in Jalgaon and neighboring Bhandara-Gondiya districts.

Maharashtra Congress raised the issue with the local administration and had asked the Wardha Collector to intervene.

Issuing a statement the students hailed the revocation as the “victory of the democratic struggles”.

“The administration tried to defame us by calling us anti-social elements…But we do not have any grievances against them. We hope that they will think beyond caste biases and instead of supporting lynching, will learn to respect democracy and the Constitution,” they said.

Meanwhile, Wardha Collector Vivek Bhimanwar intervened and served show-cause notices to all the six students, summoning them for an explanation on October 16.

The students are Chandan Saroj, Rajnish Ambedkar, and Pankaj Wela (all Scheduled Castes) and Neeraj Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Yadav and Vaibhav Pimpalkar (Other Backward Classes).

Although the varsity Registrar issued the revocation letter on Sunday - when the varsity was closed – students said it is not clear if they would still be required to submit explanation to the District Collector or not.