Politicians slam BJP leader’s nomination to BU syndicate

Coimbatore: Following the nomination of BJP’s state vice-president P Kanagasabapathi to the syndicate of Bharathiar University by governor Banwarilal Purohit, political leaders on Tuesday criticised the move and called for the decision to be revoked.
In a communication on Tuesday, member of Parliament from Coimbatore P R Natarajan (CPM) said, “The governor has set a wrong precedent by using his authority to nominate a political party representative to a state university’s syndicate.”
“At a time when there is a country-wide opposition against the new education policy from educationalists, intellectuals, and students, we doubt if through such moves, the BJP is trying to implement the policy in the state,” Natarajan said. He added that when there was a rule that the governor should consult the vice-chancellor before nominating members for the syndicate, a question arises as how the VC had agreed to the move.
“The nomination of a politician to a university’s syndicate cannot be accepted. The governor should revoke the move. The chief minister and the minster for higher education, should intervene and press the governor to cancel the nomination,” Natarajan said.
On a similar note, Singanallur MLA N Karthik of the DMK said Kanagasabapathi’s nomination showed that the Centre’s intrusion in state’s higher education was increasing. “As the state government is weak, the Centre is fulfilling its wishes in the state through the governor,” he said.
Academicians and teachers have said even though the nomination was legally correct, it was ethically wrong.
Kanagasabapathi, for his part, had told TOI that he was nominated based only on his academic credentials.