Hindutva ideologue and author Rajiv Malhotra has been appointed as honorary professors at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Media Studies (CMS).
Malhotra tweeted on Monday, 29 October that he would deliver his first lecture as visiting professor on 2 November on the topic “Sanskrit Non-Translatables”.
Malhotra, apart from being a Hindutva activist and an author, is a physicist and computer scientist by training. His books include "Indra's Net: Defending Hinduism's Philosophical Unity", "Battle for Sanskrit" and "Academic Hindophobia".
In 2015, Malhotra was accused of plagiarism by historian Richard Fox Young, who alleged that the author had quoted verbatim from other works and picked ideas without acknowledgement.
In August this year, Malhotra courted controversy during Kerala floods when he asked people to donate to help Kerala Hindus since “Christians and Muslims worldwide (were) raising lots of money to help mainly their own ppl & agendas.” Malhotra had later deleted the tweet.
Among the other people who have been recently appointed at the premiere institution include nominated Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta and Indian-American scientist Subhash Kak.
Kak, who has been named among the adjunct faculty at JNU’s School of Engineering and as an honorary visiting professor at the Centre for Media Studies, was among a group of US Universities’ teachers who issued a letter in 2015 welcoming the initiatives by PM Modi, reported Scroll. The letter was in response to a statement by leading South Asian experts at US universities cautioning Silicon Valley industrialists about doing business with Modi.
Rajya Sabha member Dasgupta is a self-professed believer in British conservatism and has often been seen to be supportive of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its policies.
The appointments come after a JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) had alleged that vice chancellor M Jagadish Kumar flouted norms to appoint candidates close to the Sangh Parivar at the university, reported The Wire.
(With PTI inputs)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)