Student groups opposed the move to invite yoga guru and Patanjali FMCG founder Baba Ramdev to the Jawahar Lal University as a key note speaker for 22nd International congress of Vedanta which was organised by the University’s Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, United States, and the Centre for India Studies, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Students expressed their concerns and were calling the move, a “silent Right-wing onslaught” on JNU and further the students had warned University officials to withdraw their invitation or their protests will continue.
The convention was held from 27 to 30th December, 2015, and eventually Mr Ramdev was declined the invite. The JNU student union vice president termed it as very unfortunate that JNU has allowed ‘Baba’ Ramdev to be invited as a keynote speaker in the valedictory ceremony of the Congress of Vedanta. She added it did not befit the stature of an academic institution like JNU to have persons with such a questionable background to address an academic gathering.
She also said that Ramdev mental make-up of extreme hatred, bias and prejudice against various minorities — religious, gender and sexual minorities, and also against girl-child. While on the one hand, JNU, after repeated intervention of students and teachers, has started taking some progressive steps such as allowing for self-identification of persons belonging to the third-gender, making GSCASH [ Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment] inclusive for persons who bear a different gender or sexual identity, inviting such a person to address a scientific gathering at JNU takes us several steps back.
According to the students, Mr. Ramdev professes a certain regressive ideology, which JNU cannot be party to. The student group has also raised concerna that his presence is not called for, as he is not an academician nor a professor.
