Is Hindutva’s Agenda to Be Blamed for The Decline in India’s Academic Freedom?
Arshad Shaikh | 16 October 2024 | India Tomorrow
India has experienced a sharp decline in academic freedom over the past decade, with the “Free to Think 2024” report, published by Scholars at Risk (SAR), attributing much of this deterioration to the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) attempts to enforce political control and push a Hindu nationalist ideology on universities. The report notes that India’s score on the Academic Freedom Index has dropped from 0.6 in 2013 to a dismal 0.2 in 2023, now placing the country in the category of “completely restricted”- its lowest standing since India’s independence in the mid-1940s.
Several universities have been forced to align with the policies of the ruling party at the Centre, silencing student dissent in the process. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) barred protests near academic buildings, while South Asian University (SAU) went even further, prohibiting protests across the entire campus. The BJP-led Union government has also clashed with state governments over control of educational institutions. In Kerala, the central government appointee Governor Arif Mohammed Khan opposed state efforts to replace him as the Chancellor of state universities, leading to a legal standoff…