After Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit was named the next Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), controversial tweets from an unverified Twitter handle in her name (@SantishreeD) started doing the rounds on social media on Monday.
A day later, Pandit told The Indian Express in an interview, that she “never had” a Twitter account.
The Twitter handle, with tweets defending Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, slamming protesting farmers and rife with communal sentiments, was deactivated on Monday after going viral.
What Pandit Said About the Twitter Account
In the interview to The Indian Express, Pandit said:
“I didn’t have a Twitter account… It has been found out that it has been hacked and somebody internally from JNU has done this. The point is, many people are unhappy that I am the first woman VC.”
On being asked if the Twitter account ever belonged to her, Pandit said, “Never. I never had. My daughter is a cyber-security engineer. Six years ago, she closed it for me because she was applying for some jobs in the US and she told me, ‘Mom, you are not going to be on any social media sites’. I’m not at all active on social media,” The Indian Express reported.
Further, Pandit said that she came to know of the tweets only when pictures of the same came out and added that nobody informed her.
“In this world everybody is a conspirator,” she was quoted as saying.
Alleging a “tirade” against her, Pandit asked why she was being treated “so badly” by the press.
“What sin have I done? Just because Prime Minister Narendra Modi beat the Left in breaking a glass ceiling, which the Left did not do,” she added.
On being asked about another controversy – the Savitribai Phule Pune University’s vigilance report to the Ministry of External Affairs, stating that Pandit had faced action after an inquiry found her guilty of not following rules while granting admission to PIO (Persons of India Origin) students – she said, “Pune University played identity politics because I was a non-Maharashtrian who won the Management Council elections. Then it was a conspiracy to see that I don’t get any post. If really there was a case, why did the university not file an FIR against me?" The Indian Express reported.
Contradictions in Claims
Following the article, several raised questions on the VC's claims, saying that she was contradicting herself throughout the interview.
NDTV correspondent A Mariam Alavi took to Twitter to say: "In the span of one article, the VC gives multiple versions:
1/never had Twitter
2/it was hacked (so has an account that has been compromised?)
3/six years ago daughter closed it. (So had an account earlier?)
Which is it? (sic)."
Senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan also took to Twitter to question how students of JNU could hack her account years in advance without knowing she would ever become the VC.
"Se let’s get this straight. People in JNU knew years in advance that Santishree Pandit would be made VC, hacked her Twitter a/c, her family albums etc and then deleted the a/c after she became VC? Is this is an example of the Indo-centric narratives she will construct at JNU? (sic)."
Amid several reactions to her interview, many shared screenshots of tweets in which personal images from her family album were shared from the account Pandit claims was hacked.
"Santishree Pandit now claims she never had a twitter account, or it was hacked, one wonders who then tweeted this very personal picture from the same acc. Curious #JNUVC (sic)," tweeted journalist Gargi Rawat.
Writer and Commonwealth scholar Dr Adil Hossain tweeted: "Only a person who can claim that she never had a twitter account but that non existent twitter account was hacked by people to put her very personal pictures, is the most eligible person to be appointed as JNU VC by this regime (sic)."
However, the date and time of the tweets showing images from her personal album is not visible in the screenshots being shared to ascertain when exactly they were tweeted.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan also took to Twitter to react to the interview saying: "She deletes her poisonous account after exposure on her appt as VC&then claims she never had an account! She had earlier been found guilty of fraud. This is what this govt is doing to education! (sic)."
The New VC's Background
Pandit was born in St Petersburg in Russia in 1962, and did her schooling from Chennai.
She did her BA in History and Social Psychology from Presidency College in Chennai, after which she did an MPhil in International Relations from the JNU. She then completed her PhD in the same university where her thesis was 'Parliament and Foreign Policy in India - The Nehru Years.' She began researching in 1985 and teaching in 1988.
Varun Gandhi Calls New JNU VC 'Mediocre'
Meanwhile, a press release signed by Pandit, after becoming the new VC was criticised for having several grammatical errors.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi had criticised the same saying, “This press release from the new JNU VC is an exhibition of illiteracy, littered with grammatical mistakes (would strive vs will strive; students friendly vs student-friendly; excellences vs excellence). Such mediocre appointments serve to damage our human capital & our youth’s future.”
Reacting to the Varun Gandhi’s criticism, Pandit said that she had dictated the release to a woman from the previous VC, who had taken it in shorthand.
“The PRO said she will correct it and put it up. How much can you monitor? I still don’t have a team. Today I told the office staff that if you don’t know English, you should have told me you don’t know English. But nobody says they don’t know. I sat, retyped and rewrote it myself today and uploaded it on the university website,” The Indian Express quoted her as saying.
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