The controversy surrounding an Indian private university over the controversial research paper is refusing to die down as another faculty professor has quit, sparking a strong response from other faculty members who have threatened to quit en masse.

According to reports, Pulapre Balakrishnan, an economics professor at Ashoka University, put his papers on Tuesday (Aug 15) in protest against the varsity’s decision to accept the resignation of Sabyasachi Das, whose research work suggesting voter manipulation in 2019 elections sparked a major political controversy with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Following Balakrishnan’s exit, his colleagues have written to the university’s governing body threatening a faculty exodus if Das is not reinstated. The English and Creative Writing departments have also extended their support to the demand, reports PTI news agency.

<h2>'Won't carry out teaching obligations'</h2>

In a joint statement, they said that they would not be able to carry out their teaching obligations "unless questions regarding basic academic freedoms are resolved before the Monsoon 2023 semester".

"The offer of resignation by our colleague Prof. Sabyasachi Das and its hasty acceptance by the University has deeply ruptured the faith that we in the faculty of the Department of Economics, our colleagues, our students, and well-wishers of Ashoka University everywhere, had reposed in the university's leadership," the letter said.

"We urge the governing body to address this immediately, but no later than August 23, 2023. Failure to do so will systematically wreck the largest academic department at Ashoka and the very viability of the Ashoka vision," it added.

Furthermore, the professors have put out two demands. One, Professor Das' unconditional return to his position at Ashoka University, and second, the governing body to play no role in evaluating faculty research through any committee or any other structure.

&nbsp;"Unless these questions regarding basic academic freedoms are resolved before the start of the Monsoon 2023 semester, faculty members of the department will find themselves unable to carry forward their teaching obligations in the spirit of critical enquiry and the fearless pursuit of truth that characterise our classrooms,” the letter stated.

<h2>What was the controversy about?</h2>

The university had earlier distanced itself from Das’ research paper ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World's Largest Democracy’ after it came under immense criticism.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/indias-ashoka-university-distances-itself-from-disputed-paper-that-questioned-integrity-of-indias-elections-621555">India's Ashoka University distances itself from disputed paper that questioned integrity of India's elections</a>

On social media, the varsity stated that social media activity or public activism by Ashoka faculty, students or staff in their “individual capacity” does not reflect its stand.

Das later resigned and the university accepted his resignation.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-33-academicians-demand-removal-of-names-from-rationalised-ncert-textbooks-604808">India: 33 academicians demand removal of names from 'rationalised' NCERT textbooks</a>

According to Das’ paper, the “disproportionate” wins were never observed in past elections by BJP or Congress, and also that they were mainly seen in states ruled by BJP at that time.

His paper cites that the reasons for this could be that either the BJP committed electoral fraud or it was able to accurately predict closely contested seats and mobilise party workers to campaign more intensively.

(With inputs from agencies)

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The controversy surrounding an Indian private university over the controversial research paper is refusing to die down as another faculty professor has quit, sparking a strong response from other faculty members who have threatened to quit en masse.

The controversy surrounding an Indian private university over the controversial research paper is refusing to die down as another faculty professor has quit, sparking a strong response from other faculty members who have threatened to quit en masse. According to reports, Pulapre Balakrishnan, an economics professor at Ashoka University, put his papers on Tuesday (Aug 15) in protest against the varsity’s decision to accept the resignation of Sabyasachi Das, whose research work suggesting voter manipulation in 2019 elections sparked a major political controversy with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Following Balakrishnan’s exit, his colleagues have written to the university’s governing body threatening a faculty exodus if Das is not reinstated. The English and Creative Writing departments have also extended their support to the demand, reports PTI news agency. 'Won't carry out teaching obligations' In a joint statement, they said that they would not be able to carry out their teaching obligations "unless questions regarding basic academic freedoms are resolved before the Monsoon 2023 semester". "The offer of resignation by our colleague Prof. Sabyasachi Das and its hasty acceptance by the University has deeply ruptured the faith that we in the faculty of the Department of Economics, our colleagues, our students, and well-wishers of Ashoka University everywhere, had reposed in the university's leadership," the letter said. "We urge the governing body to address this immediately, but no later than August 23, 2023. Failure to do so will systematically wreck the largest academic department at Ashoka and the very viability of the Ashoka vision," it added. Furthermore, the professors have put out two demands. One, Professor Das' unconditional return to his position at Ashoka University, and second, the governing body to play no role in evaluating faculty research through any committee or any other structure. "Unless these questions regarding basic academic freedoms are resolved before the start of the Monsoon 2023 semester, faculty members of the department will find themselves unable to carry forward their teaching obligations in the spirit of critical enquiry and the fearless pursuit of truth that characterise our classrooms,” the letter stated. What was the controversy about? The university had earlier distanced itself from Das’ research paper ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World's Largest Democracy’ after it came under immense criticism. Also read | India's Ashoka University distances itself from disputed paper that questioned integrity of India's elections On social media, the varsity stated that social media activity or public activism by Ashoka faculty, students or staff in their “individual capacity” does not reflect its stand. Das later resigned and the university accepted his resignation. Also read | India: 33 academicians demand removal of names from 'rationalised' NCERT textbooks According to Das’ paper, the “disproportionate” wins were never observed in past elections by BJP or Congress, and also that they were mainly seen in states ruled by BJP at that time. His paper cites that the reasons for this could be that either the BJP committed electoral fraud or it was able to accurately predict closely contested seats and mobilise party workers to campaign more intensively. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Ashoka University: Another professor quits, faculty members threaten exodus over research paper row

Students of Ashoka University, which is based in India&#39;s northern state of Haryana, recently wrote an open letter to the Indian and Jammu and Kashmir governments, asking them to hold a referendum on the&nbsp;status of Kashmir territory. The open letter was first published on kafila.org. &nbsp;&nbsp;

To

The Govt of India and the Govt of Jammu and Kashmir

We, the undersigned&mdash;current students, alumni of the&nbsp;Young India Fellowship&nbsp;ofAshoka University&mdash;write to voice our deepest anguish and grave concern at the violent turn of events in Kashmir in the past few days.

The violence perpetrated by the Indian State after the extra-judicial execution(1) of 22-year old Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani (2) is highly condemnable. The Indian Army, Kashmir Police and other task forces have reacted violently with bullets, pellets and lathis in the clashes that erupted after Burhan&rsquo;s funeral. This was immediately followed by many more protests and demonstrations as part of Kashmiri resistance to the military occupation of Kashmir by the Indian State.

In the violent repression of the protests which had a huge ground support (evident from the large attendance to Burhan&rsquo;s funeral) , 55 civilians (3) have been killed and around 3100 people (4) were severely injured by the pellets (5), lathis and bullets, some of whom have lost their eyesight.

We, unequivocally, condemn this brutal use of force by the Indian State in dealing with the protests after the killing of Burhan Wani.

Several patients with injuries preferred not to get admitted in the hospital as the Police and CRPF have arrested some patients from the SMHS Hospital Casualty ward (6).

The armed forces were seen attacking hospitals and ambulances (7) and stopping people going to funeral processions (8).

Consequently, alarming images of police, army and task force brutalities against women, children and youth have surfaced on social media.

We condemn the inhuman treatment meted out to the patients and the injured at the hands of the armed forces and the police.

At the same time, partial and prejudiced reportage by the jingoist national media is becoming the basis for racism, regionalism and religious intolerance among many Indians who are not afraid to bully Kashmiris and other minorities.

We condemn the grossly irresponsible way in which news channels reported about the on-going spate of violence playing to the majoritarian nationalist sentiments&rsquo; in a rush to increase their TRP&rsquo;s and we appeal to them to report the ground realities, pain and agony of the Kashmiris.

The region is under a complete blackout with all modes of communication and transport blocked. The Valley has been under curfew for the past 14 days and it is still being enforced at the time of the writing of this letter.

Internet and mobile services have been completely cut-off for over nine days now. There are also reports of electricity and water supply cuts in some parts of the state. Newspaper offices of&nbsp;Kashmir Times&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rising Kashmir&nbsp;were attacked by police and its employees arrested and its copies seized.

The attack on freedom of the press is a part of the tactics of the repressive mechanism of the Indian state to contain popular mass unrest in the valley.

This is not a one off incident as similar methods of intimidating and gagging the press have been employed by the government and its security agencies in the last two and a half decades (9).

This is a complete breakdown of law and order machinery as the institutions which are supposed to maintain peace, law and order are responsible for the lack of same.

We demand the immediate restoration of communication and transport facilities in the valley and appeal to the Govt. to end the curfew too.

The Indian state is inflicting all these atrocities on the Kashmiris in the name of Indians. We believe that the time has come when we protest the human right abuses and violations being carried out in our name by the Indian State. The following are our two pronged demands to the Indian Government:

Demilitarise Kashmir: Kashmir is the world&rsquo;s most densely militarized colony with over 700000 military, paramilitary and militarized police.

We demand that Army is withdrawn from civilian areas in the Valley and not to use the Army for maintaining regular law and order. We also appeal to the Indian State to confine the job of the army to just the &lsquo;borders&rsquo;.

We also demand that colonial laws like AFSPA and Public Safety Acts should be repealed keeping in view their draconian nature and the history of human right abuses they have been responsible for (10).

Conduct A Plebiscite: A plebiscite was promised to Kashmiris as early as 1948 by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India in a white paper released by the Govt. of India (11).

We demand that this promise of Indian State to the Kashmiris is honoured and a plebiscite should be conducted in the next two years in both the &lsquo;Kashmirs&rsquo;, the Indian Occupied Kashmir and the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

We believe that the Self Determination right of the Kashmiris is an inalienable right. We demand the Indian state to retreat from Kashmir, and let the Kashmiris decide their future and sovereignty.

University Students and Alumni

Letter condemning the State Violence in Kashmir

(The opinions presented in this letter are privately held by the undersigned and do not represent the views of Ashoka University.)

SIGNATORIES

1) Rahul Maganti, Alumni

2) Utkarsh Arora, Student

3) Sushmita Sihwag, Student

4) Megha Devraj, Student

5) Arjun Krishnan, Student

6) Itika, Alumni

7) Suhasini, Student

8) Manu Sharma, Alumni

9) Palak Gupta, Alumni

10) Neera Majumdar, Student

11) Arushi Gupta, Student

12) Jiya Dewan, Student

13) Suneet Singh Puri, Student

14) Jaesica Chandan, Alumni

15) Drashti Shah, Alumni

16) Sabah Kochhar, Student

17) Adil Mushtaq Shah, Employee

18) Nidhiya V Raj, Alumni

19) Chaitanyashareef Kulkarni, Student

20) Antony Arul Valan, Alumni

21) Pranay Patil, Alumni

22) Nikhil Sood, Student

23) Rahul Sreekumar, Alumni

24) Karthik Shankar, Student

25) Zahida War, Student

26) Gurleen Kaur, Alumni

27) Rajashree R, Student

28) Rajesh C S, Alumni

29) Sanyam Bhatia, Student

30) Aadya Sinha, Student

31) Dhruvatara, Student

32) Himanshu Shekhar, Student

33) Mohit Gulati, Alumni

34) Shantanu Gharpure, Alumni

35) Aditi Jain, Alumni

36) Anurit Kanti, Alumni

37) Ratul Chowdhury, Alumni

38) Ashmeen Bains, Student

39) Nipun Arora, Alumni

40) Surjodeb Basu, Alumni

41) Karthik Bhaskara, Alumni

42) Divya Narayanan, Student

43) Purvai Aranya, Student

44) Harinath Rao Nagulavancha, Alumni

45) Anita, Alumni

46) Ira, Alumni

47) Gautham Narayanan, Alumni

48) Reetika Kalita, Alumni

49) Radhika S, Alumni

50) Simran Nandrajog, Student

51) Ayush Nath, Student

52) Mansi Jain, Student

53) Jery Althaf, Alumni

54) Kanika, Alumni

55) Kanika Verma, Student

56) Saurav Goswami, Employee

57) Mahima Kohli, Alumni

58) Nayani Kushal Goyal, Student

59) Ojas, Alumni

60) Ajai, Alumni

61) Arpit Jain, Alumni

62) Sanat Sogani, Student

63) Sakshi Mehta, Alumni

64) Nivedita A, Alumni

65) Lobzang Wangtak, Student

66) Harika Undrakunda, Alumni

67) Anusha P, Alumni

68) Saritha Challuri, Alumni

69) Gurasheesh Singh, Student

70) Gutta Rohith,Alumni

71) Arpita Kodaveri, Alumni

72) Hevin Chopra, Student

73) Swetha Soundararajan, Alumni

74) Danish Ahmad Mir, Alumni

75) Vamsi Mutyala, Alumni

76) Himank Sharma, Alumni

77) Ayush Agarwal, Student

78) Prateek Pillai, Student

79) Malik Abdul Basit, Alumni

80) Kunal Joshi , Alumni

81) Simran, Student

82) Kavya Thatavarthi, Alumni

83) Ravali, Student

84) Kaustubh Khare, Alumni

85) Sumedha Bhattacharya, Student

86) Aashna Malhotra , Alumni

87) Rajendran, Faculty

88) Dimple, Alumni

(WION)

The letter asks the Indian government to hold a plebiscite as promised by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

Students of Ashoka University, which is based in India's northern state of Haryana, recently wrote an open letter to the Indian and Jammu and Kashmir governments, asking them to hold a referendum on the status of Kashmir territory. The open letter was first published on kafila.org. To The Govt of India and the Govt of Jammu and Kashmir We, the undersigned—current students, alumni of the Young India Fellowship ofAshoka University—write to voice our deepest anguish and grave concern at the violent turn of events in Kashmir in the past few days. The violence perpetrated by the Indian State after the extra-judicial execution(1) of 22-year old Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani (2) is highly condemnable. The Indian Army, Kashmir Police and other task forces have reacted violently with bullets, pellets and lathis in the clashes that erupted after Burhan’s funeral. This was immediately followed by many more protests and demonstrations as part of Kashmiri resistance to the military occupation of Kashmir by the Indian State. In the violent repression of the protests which had a huge ground support (evident from the large attendance to Burhan’s funeral) , 55 civilians (3) have been killed and around 3100 people (4) were severely injured by the pellets (5), lathis and bullets, some of whom have lost their eyesight. We, unequivocally, condemn this brutal use of force by the Indian State in dealing with the protests after the killing of Burhan Wani. Several patients with injuries preferred not to get admitted in the hospital as the Police and CRPF have arrested some patients from the SMHS Hospital Casualty ward (6). The armed forces were seen attacking hospitals and ambulances (7) and stopping people going to funeral processions (8). Consequently, alarming images of police, army and task force brutalities against women, children and youth have surfaced on social media. We condemn the inhuman treatment meted out to the patients and the injured at the hands of the armed forces and the police. At the same time, partial and prejudiced reportage by the jingoist national media is becoming the basis for racism, regionalism and religious intolerance among many Indians who are not afraid to bully Kashmiris and other minorities. We condemn the grossly irresponsible way in which news channels reported about the on-going spate of violence playing to the majoritarian nationalist sentiments’ in a rush to increase their TRP’s and we appeal to them to report the ground realities, pain and agony of the Kashmiris. The region is under a complete blackout with all modes of communication and transport blocked. The Valley has been under curfew for the past 14 days and it is still being enforced at the time of the writing of this letter. Internet and mobile services have been completely cut-off for over nine days now. There are also reports of electricity and water supply cuts in some parts of the state. Newspaper offices of Kashmir Times and Rising Kashmir were attacked by police and its employees arrested and its copies seized. The attack on freedom of the press is a part of the tactics of the repressive mechanism of the Indian state to contain popular mass unrest in the valley. This is not a one off incident as similar methods of intimidating and gagging the press have been employed by the government and its security agencies in the last two and a half decades (9). This is a complete breakdown of law and order machinery as the institutions which are supposed to maintain peace, law and order are responsible for the lack of same. We demand the immediate restoration of communication and transport facilities in the valley and appeal to the Govt. to end the curfew too. The Indian state is inflicting all these atrocities on the Kashmiris in the name of Indians. We believe that the time has come when we protest the human right abuses and violations being carried out in our name by the Indian State. The following are our two pronged demands to the Indian Government: Demilitarise Kashmir: Kashmir is the world’s most densely militarized colony with over 700000 military, paramilitary and militarized police. We demand that Army is withdrawn from civilian areas in the Valley and not to use the Army for maintaining regular law and order. We also appeal to the Indian State to confine the job of the army to just the ‘borders’. We also demand that colonial laws like AFSPA and Public Safety Acts should be repealed keeping in view their draconian nature and the history of human right abuses they have been responsible for (10). Conduct A Plebiscite: A plebiscite was promised to Kashmiris as early as 1948 by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India in a white paper released by the Govt. of India (11). We demand that this promise of Indian State to the Kashmiris is honoured and a plebiscite should be conducted in the next two years in both the ‘Kashmirs’, the Indian Occupied Kashmir and the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. We believe that the Self Determination right of the Kashmiris is an inalienable right. We demand the Indian state to retreat from Kashmir, and let the Kashmiris decide their future and sovereignty. University Students and Alumni Letter condemning the State Violence in Kashmir (The opinions presented in this letter are privately held by the undersigned and do not represent the views of Ashoka University.) SIGNATORIES 1) Rahul Maganti, Alumni 2) Utkarsh Arora, Student 3) Sushmita Sihwag, Student 4) Megha Devraj, Student 5) Arjun Krishnan, Student 6) Itika, Alumni 7) Suhasini, Student 8) Manu Sharma, Alumni 9) Palak Gupta, Alumni 10) Neera Majumdar, Student 11) Arushi Gupta, Student 12) Jiya Dewan, Student 13) Suneet Singh Puri, Student 14) Jaesica Chandan, Alumni 15) Drashti Shah, Alumni 16) Sabah Kochhar, Student 17) Adil Mushtaq Shah, Employee 18) Nidhiya V Raj, Alumni 19) Chaitanyashareef Kulkarni, Student 20) Antony Arul Valan, Alumni 21) Pranay Patil, Alumni 22) Nikhil Sood, Student 23) Rahul Sreekumar, Alumni 24) Karthik Shankar, Student 25) Zahida War, Student 26) Gurleen Kaur, Alumni 27) Rajashree R, Student 28) Rajesh C S, Alumni 29) Sanyam Bhatia, Student 30) Aadya Sinha, Student 31) Dhruvatara, Student 32) Himanshu Shekhar, Student 33) Mohit Gulati, Alumni 34) Shantanu Gharpure, Alumni 35) Aditi Jain, Alumni 36) Anurit Kanti, Alumni 37) Ratul Chowdhury, Alumni 38) Ashmeen Bains, Student 39) Nipun Arora, Alumni 40) Surjodeb Basu, Alumni 41) Karthik Bhaskara, Alumni 42) Divya Narayanan, Student 43) Purvai Aranya, Student 44) Harinath Rao Nagulavancha, Alumni 45) Anita, Alumni 46) Ira, Alumni 47) Gautham Narayanan, Alumni 48) Reetika Kalita, Alumni 49) Radhika S, Alumni 50) Simran Nandrajog, Student 51) Ayush Nath, Student 52) Mansi Jain, Student 53) Jery Althaf, Alumni 54) Kanika, Alumni 55) Kanika Verma, Student 56) Saurav Goswami, Employee 57) Mahima Kohli, Alumni 58) Nayani Kushal Goyal, Student 59) Ojas, Alumni 60) Ajai, Alumni 61) Arpit Jain, Alumni 62) Sanat Sogani, Student 63) Sakshi Mehta, Alumni 64) Nivedita A, Alumni 65) Lobzang Wangtak, Student 66) Harika Undrakunda, Alumni 67) Anusha P, Alumni 68) Saritha Challuri, Alumni 69) Gurasheesh Singh, Student 70) Gutta Rohith,Alumni 71) Arpita Kodaveri, Alumni 72) Hevin Chopra, Student 73) Swetha Soundararajan, Alumni 74) Danish Ahmad Mir, Alumni 75) Vamsi Mutyala, Alumni 76) Himank Sharma, Alumni 77) Ayush Agarwal, Student 78) Prateek Pillai, Student 79) Malik Abdul Basit, Alumni 80) Kunal Joshi , Alumni 81) Simran, Student 82) Kavya Thatavarthi, Alumni 83) Ravali, Student 84) Kaustubh Khare, Alumni 85) Sumedha Bhattacharya, Student 86) Aashna Malhotra , Alumni 87) Rajendran, Faculty 88) Dimple, Alumni (WION)

Ashoka University: The open letter

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Ashoka University: Another professor quits, faculty members threaten exodus over research paper row

Ashoka University: The open letter