JNU asks prof to clear air about remarks against Dalits, Muslims

Jawaharlal Nehru University has asked professor Amita Singh to clarify her alleged remarks calling Dalits and Muslim teachers ‘anti-national’ .

Jawaharlal Nehru University has asked professor Amita Singh to clarify her alleged remarks calling Dalits and Muslim teachers ‘anti-national’ .

The National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) had sent a show-cause notice to the varsity.

“I have been asked by the university to reply by Tuesday. My comments have been taken out of context. What I had actually said was that Muslim and Dalit students are used by teachers for their political benefits,” said Singh, who heads JNU’s Centre of Law and Governance.

Singh criticised a section of teachers and said they were supporting anti-national activities on the campus.

In her interview to a website to the question, “how many teachers and students in JNU are anti-national” the professor allegedly said: “Teachers are hardly 10, but they portray as if everybody is with them. You think a teacher in an institution like JNU would be so stupid as to back anti-national slogans? These are just five or six persons and they are Dalits and Muslims. They have their grudges.”

She claimed she wasn’t aware that the interview will be aired or published.

The NCSC had on March 8 sent a letter sent to JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar about action taken against the professor.

A communication was also sent to Delhi Police commissioner, urging him to register a criminal complaint.