'PM's NEP vision & constructing Indo-centric narratives in focus'

New Delhi: In her maiden statement as the newly-appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University here, Professor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Monday said that the administration under her would strive to implement the National Education Policy of 2020 as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and focus on "constructing Indo-centric narratives".

Prof Pandit's remarks came as she took charge of the office of the V-C even as outrage sparked over old tweets from a Twitter account allegedly belonging to her, in which JNU students have been called "jihadis", protesting farmers parasites and MK Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse has been defended.

"As vice-chancellor, JNU, I thank both the prime minister and the Minister of Higher Education for giving me this opportunity as the first woman and alumnus of this esteemed university from the state of Tamil Nadu," she said in a statement after taking charge.

In addition to immediately focusing on providing a "clean administration", the new V-C said that she would work to build a student-friendly and gender-sensitive environment to nurture academic excellence.

Former acting V-C, M Jagadesh Kumar, who has now moved to the UGC as its chair, said, "It gives me pleasure to inform you that Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit from Savitribai Phule Pune University has been appointed as the next Vice-Chancellor of JNU... My hearty congratulations to her. I am handing over the charge to her today and wish her success in her new role."

Prof Pandit's prolific CV showed that she had been in research and teaching for over three decades. It added that she was born in St Petersburg, Russia (Erstwhile Leningrad of the USSR) and educated in Chennai's Presidency College, where she did both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

She was also a topper and Gold medallist at JNU, from where she did her M.Phil and Ph.D and is a widely published researcher in her domain.

However, as soon as her appointment was made public, a Twitter account with her name was discovered, on which several hateful tweets were seen over the last couple of years. Some of them included slurs against Indian Christians while some others glorified Godse.

Several fact-checkers traced the account and found her old tweets, following which several activists, Opposition leaders and former students decried her alleged comments. Even as the tweets were being shared on social media, several JNU professors and BJP leaders congratulated her on her appointment — tagging the same account.

Shortly after her insensitive tweets were outed, the account was "deactivated".