HRD ministry denies Swamy's link to JNU
The Human Resouce Development (HRD) ministry had reportedly offered BJP leader Swamy the post of Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). However, on 25 September 2015, a ministry-source denied the rumour saying, "There is nothing he has written to us...on the JNU matter", saying that Swamy's own tweets fanned the rumours. The current VC, SK Sopori is set to retire in January 2016.
A search-cum-selection committee is set up by the HRD, and a panel of names selected by the committee is forwarded to the President (who is a visitor of central universities), before finalization and announcement of a new VC.
The media was buzzing on 23 September 2015 about reports saying that Subramanian Swamy had been offered the post of the JNU VC. It was reported that HRD minister Smriti Irani had spoken to Swamy about the offer. Swamy tweeted saying, "I have been offered the JNU VC post. No formal offer nor will there be if the Govt cannot meet my pre- conditions."
Firstly, the VC of a central university retires at 70, and Swamy is 75. Secondly, a search-cum-selection committee is yet to be set up by HRD. So, Swamy does not fall under the official nominees for the post of VC.
JNU, which is famous for its left-leaning students and faculty members, took the rumours surrounding Swamy very seriously. JNU Students Union declared, "Be it Mr. Swamy or any other regressive figure, the student community will resist any attempts at saffronisation of JNU with all its might." Swamy replied by tweeting that JNU needed an Anti-Narcotics Bureau branch to raid dorms and arrest "anti-national" students.
Swamy stated on 13 March 2015, that mosques were not religious places but buildings which could be demolished any time. He also advocated turning India into a Hindu Rashtra which is clearly in violation of the Indian Constitution.
Swamy, who holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard, and taught two summer courses there, was booted in 2011 for proposing that Muslims be deprived of the right to vote unless they acknowledged their families were converts from Hinduism.
