All is well, says JNU vice chancellor at meet with HRD secretary

NEW DELHI: JNU vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar finally attended a meeting at the human resource development ministry on Wednesday and granted a series of interviews to news outlets amid criticism of the JNU administration’s failure to prevent violence on the campus last Sunday.

At his meeting with HRD secretary Amit Khare, he is learnt to have said that life on the campus was normal at the moment. Khare is learnt to have emphasised on the need to maintain calm and advised Kumar to attempt an outreach to students as well as the media to ensure a ‘balanced’ perspective. Kumar has largely kept off ministerial meetings related to the student agitation since October 28. The VC, who has been quite inaccessible, later granted a series of interviews detailing the January 5 violence and assured of his commitment towards JNU’s normal functioning.

“University authorities were advised by the ministry to make all out efforts for restoration of normal functioning of the university at the earliest,” said a ministry statement. Even in Monday’s meeting, it had impressed upon the JNU administration that there was a need to immediately restore calm on the campus and ensure no action is taken which could aggravate the situation.


Kumar, who had not attended Monday’s meeting was accompanied by rector SC Garkoti on Wednesday. They informed the ministry that over 3,300 student had registered for the winter semester and that the last date for registration was extended till January 12. They added the administration had appealed to stakeholders to maintain peace in the campus and not to be provoked by misinformation.