Derecognising students body for alleged criticism of PM could have been avoided, admit IIT Madras authorities

Chennai: A day after Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras lifted the ban on student body Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) which was derecognised for allegedly being critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the authorities of the institute have admitted that banning the student body was not the right decision.

In a letter written by the Dean of student affairs, the authorities has accepted that other options should have been considered instead of banning the group. "I have taken into consideration that guidelines were circulated to students via mail only. Noting that the guidelines were not disseminated when the meeting took place, in hindsight it appears that other options could have been considered," Dean of students affairs at IIT Madras Sivakumar Srinivasan said.

The Centre was accused of strong-arming IIT Madras to ban the group as the ban came after the HRD Ministry forwaded an anonymous complaint to the institution.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is keeping the controversy alive by criticising the APSC in its mouthpiece 'Organiser'. It has accused the student body of being anti-Hindu and anti-Bharat and propagating a divisive ideology.

The members of the APSC had met the Dean and told him that the guidelines for students meetings were notified four days after the APSC held its controversial meeting.

APSC was banned from holding the event after the HRD Ministry received an 'anonymous' complaint against the event.

The students body was "de-recognised" following an allegation that it was instigating hatred against the Prime Minister, and policies like promotion of Hindi and ban on beef. IIT-Madras and the Central government had received a lot of criticism from the opposition parties for this decision.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had criticised the Modi government for stifling dissent and curbing the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.

"The ban imposed by HRD Ministry is a very dangerous step. We also go at these places like Bombay University for speech. This is against the freedom of speech. This is very dangerous, it should be stopped in the beginning," JDU leader Ali Anwar had said.