TISS suspends PhD student for ‘antinational activities’ after protest against govt

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai has suspended a Dalit PhD student for two years for violating the “discipline codes outlined by the institution”. The administration has also barred Ramadas Prini Sivanadan from entering all TISS campuses.

While one of the major complaints of the institute against Ramadas is that he “misused” its name while participating in a protest march held in Delhi against the Centre’s “anti-student policies” earlier this year, the Progressive Students Forum (PSF) has alleged that “the TISS administration is indirectly trying to curb all dissent against the BJP government”. The institute reportedly cited “anti-national activities” among the reasons for the suspension.

Show-cause notice

Ramadas was first sent a show-cause notice by the TISS on March 7, accusing him of misusing its name by participating in the protest under the banner of “PSF-TISS”. PSF is not among the students’ organisations recognised by the institute that is funded under the Ministry of Education. Therefore, adding the TISS’s name to it gave a wrong impression, the institute mentioned in the notice.

The said protest, against the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, involved a march to Parliament in January. It was done under the banner of the United Students of India, which is a platform of 16 students’ bodies, with the slogan “Save Education, Reject NEP, Save India, Reject BJP”.

Other accusations

The show-cause notice also reportedly cited as objectionable Ramadas’s social media posts asking students to join the screening of the documentary, Raam Ke Naam, on January 26. The said documentary is a National Award-winning documentary made in 1992 by Anand Patwardhan. The institute reportedly said it was “a mark of dishonour” against the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, which happened on January 22.

Among his other objectionable activities, according to the institute, were the screening of a banned BBC documentary on campus last year, inviting “controversial speakers” to the Bhagat Singh Memorial Lecture, and protesting loudly outside the TISS director’s bungalow late in the night.

Student’s Leftist politics

Ramadas is reportedly a former general secretary of the PSF, which is under the Left student’s union, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI). He is currently a member of the SFI’s central executive committee and a joint secretary of the SFI Maharashtra State Committee.

The PSF issued a statement on Friday (April 19), saying “the TISS administration [was] indirectly trying to curb all dissent against the BJP government” by suspending a student and debarring his entry into campus for two years for protesting against the BJP’s “anti-student policies” in the form of the NEP 2020.

The PSF statement also said that as a “first-generation learner, Ramadas has unequivocally defended student rights on campus”. He is a meritorious student who received the National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes from the Ministry of Social Justice for excelling in the UGC-NET exam. The statement said the TISS action was “a direct attack on marginalised students who hope to pursue higher education in public-funded institutions.”

TISS position

A TISS official, on the other hand, was quoted by media reports as saying that while Ramadas was free to express himself, using the institution’s name “for personal gain” could not be allowed. According to the official, Ramadas is more of a “political activist than a student” and that he has violated the disciplinary codes several times, activities that “bring a bad name to the institute” and affect the prospects of fellow students at the institute.

Ramadas reportedly responded to all the notices the institute issued again him. He responded to the March 7 show-cause notice, too. The PSF also pointed out that the documentary, Raam Ke Naam, has been officially screened in TISS several times. However, the suspension order on April 18 left everyone shocked.