The BJP-RSS combine and Sangh Parivar have consistently stirred controversy through their efforts to “reform” India’s education system, which they claim bears “Leftist” and “Western” influences. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat repeatedly stressed on the “need” to transform education to reflect “Bharatiya” (Indian) values, which he claims current curricula, shaped by “foreign” ideologies, lack.

Evidently, the establishment believes universities are the key battleground for ideological supremacy. Their strategy allegedly includes appointing politically aligned Vice-Chancellors and filling academic bodies with Sangh ideologues—central components of their new “governance” toolkit.

Recent events at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district seem to confirm this pattern. A controversial nomination to the university’s syndicate by Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi has drawn criticism.

While the university announced three Governor nominees on August 19, attention focused on Savitha Rajesh, State president (south Tamil Nadu) of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Savitha, an associate professor at Sree Ayyappa College for Women in Nagercoil, received the Governor’s nomination under the “academic experts” category.

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The Students’ Federation of India (SFI, the CPIM’s student union) protested this nomination on campus October 23-25, coinciding with the Governor’s visit for graduation ceremonies. When Savitha arrived for a meeting, ABVP officials from outside the university photographed themselves with her.

“This is the first time a right-wing student organisation’s president has been nominated to the Syndicate in any university”, said MA Sociology student and district secretary of SFI Sylas Arulraj, questioning why the Governor chose an associate professor when many qualified professors were available.

The Governor had previously faced criticism for unilaterally extending Periyar University Vice-Chancellor Jagannathan’s service in June. The university’s teachers’ association protested, citing Jagannathan’s arrest record. Then-State Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy declared the government’s rejection of this extension.

MSU, established in 1990, serves 2,800 students, primarily from socially and economically disadvantaged families in Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, and Kanyakumari districts. It oversees 104 affiliated colleges.

MSU Vice-Chancellor N. Chandrasekar defended the appointment: “She is not in any party capacity. She works as an associate professor of English at Sree Ayyappa College for Women in Nagercoil”. According to Retired Madras High Court judge K. Chandru, this might have broader implications. “The recent developments at the university, particularly the appointment of a ABVP leader as a Syndicate member, is a culmination of the attempts made by the BJP to saffronise education in India. As a first step, they are packing all the academic decision-making bodies with confirmed sangh idealogues.”

Condemning the appointment, State Higher Education Minister Govi. Chezhiaan said that “it is condemnable that despite repeated opposition from the Tamil Nadu government and its Higher Education department, the Governor continues to flout the rules and works to impose the policies of the BJP in higher education institutions in the State. We are not able to say the difference between the Governor and the BJP State president.”

The ABVP defends the nomination. State joint secretary S. Surya stated she meets all qualifications, adding: “The opposition is only because she is a part of ABVP.”

The syndicate structure

The Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Act, 1990, defines the Syndicate’s composition: seven ex-officio members, two affiliated college principals, two college teachers, one professor per ten departments, one senior reader, one senior assistant professor, and three Governor nominees as academic experts. The body includes 19 members, with non-ex-officio members serving three-year terms.

Justice Chandru explains the Syndicate’s evolution: “The real powers of the universities were initially vested with the Senate and the Academic Council. The Syndicate is only the chief executive body which carries out the decisions of the Senate. But over the period, the Syndicates came to be occupied by ex-officio members who are mostly government Secretaries. The later universities have virtually reduced the power of the Senate and the Academic Council.”

The Syndicate’s responsibilities include creating statutes, setting fees, establishing student unions, managing university properties and funds, and so on.

M. Nagarajan, general secretary of the Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association (MUTA, representing over 3,000 college teachers), notes this trend began earlier. “A few members like S. Subramania Pillai, former principal, Arignar Anna College, Aralvoymozhi, Nagercoil [nominated for two consecutive terms- 2018 and 2021], K. Rajendra Retnam [2018] and V. Umayorubhagan (2020), who owed allegiance to either RSS or ABVP were also nominated by the Governor as Syndicate members. In Tamil Nadu, ABVP or RSS people have been nominated as Syndicate members not only in the MSU but also in all State universities.”

Former MSU history professor K.A. Manikumar and former Vice-Chancellor V. Vasanthi Devi (1992-98) believe MUTA’s strong presence limits individual Syndicate members’ influence.

“During MSU’s early years, Vice-Chancellors would suggest names for Governor’s nominations to the syndicate,” said Nagarajan. For instance, Peter Alphonse, now Chairman of the State Minority Commission, was appointed through this process. “Later, this changed—the State government began suggesting names for the Governor’s consideration. During this period, syndicate members largely remained politically neutral. However, in the last seven years, most Chancellor appointees have had known right-wing affiliations.”

Recent controversies

MSU has faced other controversies. In February 2023, students allegedly screened the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question”, which the government had blocked under IT Rules. ABVP’s Surya said that a lot of “freedom fighters in the State were from the Thoothukudi-Tirunelveli belt. But it is the same place from where many ‘anti-Indian’ activities are carried out today. Like the screening of the BBC documentary in the university.”

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In October 2021, police prevented Hindu Munnani from disrupting a lecture on “Periyar and Islam”. Following ABVP’s complaint in November 2020, the university removed Arundhati Roy’s “Walking with the Comrades” from its English syllabus, replacing it with M. Krishnan’s “My Native Land: Essays on Nature.”

Manikumar observes the BJP’s strategic focus: “While the BJP is trying to capture the bodies, at the same it is also organising students to protest against the decisions that are made against its interests.”

Clearly, the events at MSU illustrate how the BJP-RSS’s call for educational “reform” has moved from rhetoric to reality. What began as a criticism of “western” influences now manifests in systematic changes to university governance, even in States like Tamil Nadu that have historically resisted such transformation.