A central university has forced an informal body of Dalit faculty members to stop their weekly readings and discussions of Bhimrao Ambedkar’s works on the campus, show-caused seven of the teachers, and taken punitive action against four of them.

The Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya suggested the Ambedkar readings, which had started two years earlier, could endanger the “safety and health of (participating) students and reputation of the university”.

After most of the show-caused teachers refused to express regret, the university transferred two of them and removed two others from the positions they held at an academic centre on the campus.

Some academics have criticised the university for cracking down on open discussions, particularly on a subject such as Ambedkar’s writings and speeches.

A group of Dalit faculty members started the Ambedkar Study Circle India on the campus in February 2022. It met after 6pm every Thursday in front of the Ambedkar statue at the university and read from his collected works, published by the central and Maharashtra governments, and discussed them.

Some sixty-one sessions had been held in two years when the registrar-in-charge, Dharvesh Katheriya, ordered the practice stopped in January this year.

Katheriya issued show-cause notices to seven teachers asking them to declare that reading Ambedkar’s works would create security problems and tarnish the university’s reputation.

“The literature should be taught in classes instead of conducting reading sessions through an unauthorised group. Keeping in view the safety and health of students and reputation of the university, it is not appropriate to conduct such a reading session,” the notice said.

It alleged the group had not taken permission from the authorities.

One of the seven teachers expressed regret and resigned from the study circle.

The other six, in their responses, said the study circle had been formed by teachers from various academic departments after informing the campus authorities.

Its sessions generally began with a reading of the Preamble to the Constitution and ended with the national anthem, and all the participants came voluntarily, they wrote.

They rejected the concerns about security, the university’s reputation and student health, and said that anyone having any issues was free to skip the sessions.

Besides, they said, the ambiance at the venue — under the open sky and in front of the Ambedkar statue — inspired the participants to collectively read and listen to Ambedkar’s writings and speeches with an open mind.

The university transferred Shailesh Marji Kadam, one of the seven teachers, to the university’s Amravati campus and Ravindra Borkar to the Prayagraj campus. Borkar moved court and got a stay.

The authorities also removed Lella Karunyakara as director of the Buddhist Study Centre and Surjit K. Singh as acting head of the same centre. Several non-teaching staff from Karunyakara’s office have been transferred too.

An email was sent to Katheriya last week seeking his comments. His response
is awaited.