Madras University Expels APSC Activist From PG Course

The Madras Uiversity on August 29 terminated a post graduate student Kiruba Mohan, who was a former secretary of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle(APSC) in the same university, while he was pursuing his graduation.The university cited the reason as 'missing transfer certificate in his Post Graduate application'.

"When I joined the post graduate course in this July, the Buddhism Head of the Department (HoD), Venkatachalpathy told me that I don't need a Transfer Certificate (TC) because I graduated from the same college. But on August 29, without any prior intimation, they gave a letter cancelling my admission blaming it on the missing transfer certificate," said Kiruba Mohan. He was told that he is ineligible to pursue the Masters programme in Madras University.

He had earlier completed his graduation in Journalism and Communication in 2018 from the same university. As a graduate student, he had started the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle in the university premises. As a secretary of APSC circle, he had organised protests against beef ban, the University's invitation to former Rajya Sabha member and 'Saffron Surge' author Tarun Vijay, and senior BJP leader Ila Ganesan to address students in the college.

Also read: JNU has Fined 10 Student Activists a Total of 4 Lakh in a Year

He added, "This decision, cancelling my admission in a letter given to me on August 29 is without any prior notice. The reason can be only one thing. The administration is not happy with my involvement in some agitations inside the university. I have good attendance percentage and first class grades. Yet, due to the administration and Vice Chancellor's (VC) intereference, my HoD was under pressure to remove me from the course.”

What Madras University Says

When contacted, VC Duraisamy said, "Dont make this as an issue. What he tries to portray is completely irrelevant. He had completely acted against the admission guidelines. Since two years he created a lot of agitations inside the college. He did engineering in Anna University, then post graduation in journalism, and now this. There is no such pressure from the Governer as alleged and the reason for the rejection is purely based on two reasons; his conduct report by the Journalism HoD and his eligiblity not meeting the conditions of admission guidelines.”

Buddhism HoD Venkatachalapathy said, "Baseless allegations and other rumours are starting to do the rounds. For now, the university doesn’t want to comment more on it. University has decided to revoke the admission due to the ineligibility in admission guidelines."

In September 2018, right wing fringe groups protested against Professor Nallur Saravanan from the Department of Saiva Siddhanta of Madras University for his opinions on the book, Manickavasagar Kaalamum Karuthum (The Times and Thoughts of Saint Manickavasagar). He refrained to comment on Kiruba Mohan's expelling, when approached by this reporter.

‘I dreamt of teaching in this university’

"I wanted to take up research as my career in the same university. I wanted to do research and teach Buddhism here. My mother stays at home and my father is still doing some random daily wage jobs. Research is my dream and these people are not letting that happen," Kiruba said. “ In the past too, the university administration has been threatening students belonging to APSC. Their vengeance against us was clearly visible in every action. It is because of the Hindutva groups' intereference, the administration members are acting as their puppets. The Vice Chancellor’s reasons to expel me is very lame and is totally rubbish. We are preparing the petition and we are going to move legally to get a solution for this problem," he said.

"If the rejection is genuine, they should not have given me admission in the beginning itself. I have the admission copy with me. We will fight this and will pursue my dream for research and teaching further,” he added.

Also read: IIT-M Cancels Venue Permission for Sunil Ilayidom’s Programme