A delegation of elderly parliamentarians, comprising of various political parties on Thursday met Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and sought his intervention to resolve the month-long JNU crisis over the students’ hostel fee hike.
The delegation submitted the minister a memorandum on their demand for resolution of the student crisis. It had many Rajya Sabha members, including Amee Yajnik, Rajeev Gowda, L Hanumanthaiah and Syed Naseer Hussain of the Congress, Binoy Viswam and KK Ragesh of the CPI and Manoj Jha of RJD, said a release by JNU teachers’ association.
The MPs also conveyed the issues raised by JNU teachers and students while expressing concern over the “total breakdown” of communication and democratic procedures because of the “autocratic behaviour” of the current JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar.
According to the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA), the delegation asked the minister to intervene in the matter and help break the ongoing deadlock.
A joint delegation of the JNU teachers association and students too met and apprised the parliamentarians of various parties of their grievances and sought their intervention in “stemming the rot” in the university administration, the JNUTA said.
For several days, the JNU students have been protesting. The students’ union has been on a strike against the draft hostel manual, approved by the Inter-Hall administration, which it claims has provisions for hostel fee hike, dress code and curfew timings. The JNUSU also demanded the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar.