Reject TISS Mumbai’s authoritarianism!
In a completely deplorable act of stifling democratic voices in academic institutions, TISS Mumbai has suspended Mr. Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, a Research Scholar of TISS Mumbai, who belongs to the Dalit community. Ramadas has been a democratic activist on the TISS campus, who on January 26th, 2024, on the occasion of Republic Day, arranged a film-screening of Anand Patwardhan’s noted documentary film “Ram ke Naam”. In a notice sent to Ramadas on March 7th, 2024 TISS makes reference to his role in screening the documentary and calls it a "mark of dishonour and protest" against the Ram Mandir idol consecration in Ayodhya. The notice further read: "Your activities are not in the interest of the nation. Being a public institution, TISS cannot permit or tolerate its students indulging in such activities which are anti-national and bring a bad name to the nation. Hence, all such activities fall under the category of serious criminal offence."
This incident shows that the BJP government is hell-bent on converting all the administrative bodies of educational institutions into RSS Shakhas, where any opinion critical to the retrogressive and majoritarian ideas of RSS and BJP shall stand crushed with utmost might of the ruling regime. This stands especially true for those student activists belonging to the Dalit community, who have time and again been targeted by the RSS backed University Administrations – including Rohith Vemula in University of Hyderabad, Mahatma Gandhi Hindi University (Wardha), Delhi University, Allahabad University, and scores of other universities across the country.
We condemn the high-handedness of the TISS Administration in invoking disciplinary action against fellow activist Ramadas. We demand that the notice against Ramadas be withdrawn with immediate effect. We also call upon students across the campuses to forge the largest possible unity to defeat fascist forces like RSS and BJP.
-- All India Students Association (AISA)
