HRD ministry keeping a cautious silence on Ramjas row

NEW DELHI: While ministers of the Modi government stepped right into the centre of the debate raging on the Delhi University campus over the right to dissent, the Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry is keeping a cautious silence on the subject.

While the ministry has sought a report on the issue from DU as Javadekar recently stated, the ministry has refrained from making any strong statements on the controversy and is leaving it to DU to address it. The DU Executive Council is expected to meet on Tuesday and the campus unrest is learnt to be on the agenda.

The ministry’s stance also marks a significant change in the way the HRD ministry has been dealing with campus controversies – while former HRD minister Smriti Irani’s statements became quite central to the incidents at Hyderabad Central University after student Rohith Vemula’s suicide, the Javadekar dispensation has chosen to watch from the sidelines instead and keep a low profile. The ministry’s role also became quite debatable through the campus unrest at JNU over student activist Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech.