Academics around the world have expressed outrage at the unseemly exit of two illustrious intellectuals, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Arvind Subramaniam, from Ashoka University, Sonepat, in recent days due to alleged restrictions on free speech at the university.
According to prominent economist and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, free speech is the soul of a great university, and by compromising on it, the founders of Ashoka University have bartered away its soul.
In a LinkedIn post, Rajan, a lecturer at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said that free speech is the heart of a great university. “The founders [of Ashoka University] have bartered away its soul by compromising on it,” he added.
On Tuesday, Mehta, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, resigned as a lecturer at a leading private liberal arts university. The university has declined to say if his criticisms and writings had anything to do with his decision to resign. Shortly after Mehta’s departure, Subramanian resigned.
The 54-year-old wrote in his resignation letter to Vice-Chancellor Malabika Sarkar, “Following a meeting with the Founders, it has become clear to me that my affiliation with the University may be seen as a political liability. My public writing in support of politics that tries to honor constitutional values of freedom and equal respect for all citizens is perceived to carry risks for the university. I’m resigning in the University’s best interests.”
Arvind Subramaniam, the Prime Minister’s former Chief Economic Advisor, resigned as a faculty member two days after Mr. Mehta’s departure. He had just arrived at the University in July 2020.
“…the circumstances involving the ‘resignation’ of Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta…have devastated me…that someone of such integrity and eminence, who embodied the vision underlying Ashoka, felt compelled to leave is troubling,” Mr. Subramanian wrote in his resignation letter.
According to the former RBI governor, prior to the exits, Ashoka University was regarded as “India’s likely competitor to Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford in the coming decades.” “Unfortunately, its actions this week make it less probable,” Rajan said.
“The reality is that Professor Mehta is a thorn in the establishment’s side,” he continued. He’s no ordinary thorn because he uses lively prose and thought-provoking arguments to skewer those in government and high offices like the Supreme Court.”
On Friday, more than 150 academics from prestigious international universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge voiced their support for Mehta. In an open letter to the trustees and founders of Ashoka University, academicians condemned Mehta’s “attack” on values, which they said he has always practiced.
On Thursday, students and faculty members at Ashoka University staged a protest against Mehta’s departure. They requested that the university reinstate Mehta and make the resignation process more transparent.
