Thiruvananthapuram: A PhD scholar at Kerala University has accused Dean of the Sanskrit Department, Dr. C. N. Vijayakumari of hurling casteist remarks at him alongside withholding his PhD degree, maktoobmedia.com reported.
Vipin Vijayan alleged that Dr. C. N. Vijayakumari, who he claims to be having affiliations with the RSS-BJP, ranted at him that ‘No matter how much a Pulayan or Parayan bows, Sanskrit will never yield to them as it does to Brahmins’.
Pointing to abuse of her authority, he said that Dr. C. N. Vijayakumari deliberately obstructed the awarding of his PhD degree.
Her labelling of him as ‘one who doesn’t know Sanskrit’ remain stamped on him like an indelible mark deeply wounding him, Vipin said.
An M.Phil holder in Sanskrit from the University’s Department of Sanskrit, he said that he earned his M.Phil legitimately, guided by Dr. Vijayakumari herself.
Despite this, the same professor obstructed his PhD at its final stage, landing him in trouble.
Pointing out that the issue has to do with deep routed caste prejudice, he asked ‘If I don’t know Sanskrit, then on what basis did she guide me and approve my M.Phil degree? If I am a fraud, does that not make her an accomplice? Or did I somehow forget Sanskrit after my M.Phil?’
He also alleged that professor targeted him for his political background as a former member of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).
Vipin, who has degrees in Sanskrit from Sree Sankaracharya University and Kerala University, said he never filed nomination for the Research Scholars’ Union elections, denying media reports portraying him as ‘former general secretary’ of the Research Scholars’ Union.
Calling himself a leftist, Vipin has asserted that Dr. Vijayakumari has her political affiliations with with RSS–BJP politics as she is an actively involved in the Sangh Parivar teachers’ organization at Kerala University.
‘Why is only my politics being questioned, and not hers?' he said, adding 'How do I become a criminal while she is portrayed as a saint? Do facts have no value in the news anymore?’.
Vipin Vijayan says that two experts—Professor Anil Pratap Giri from the Central University of Allahabad and Professor G. Padmanabham from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati— have positively evaluated his PhD thesis, Sadgurusarvasam: A Study.
All three examiners recommended the award of the degree to the PhD he has written in English as allowed by university regulations.
Prof. Anil Pratap Giri of Allahabad University chaired the open defense alongside providing him video showing the chairman reading the examiners’ reports, formally recommending the award of PhD as part of evaluation procedure.
The Dean, however, declined to sign his file saying that he was ‘not qualified even to utter a word in Sanskrit’.
He said that ‘The Dean is overstepping her authority and even challenging the VC’s decisions’ and alleged that the professor made demeaning remarks like ‘This department has become impure, it must be purified again.’
Vijayan reportedly said he is now planning to take legal action, adding ‘I have suffered enough. The Dean’s caste prejudice and misuse of authority cannot go unchecked’ and called her actions ‘unworthy of the dignified position of a Dean’.