Swami demands ‘cabinet rank’ for taking over as JNU V-C

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy has set a premium for taking up the job of vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The move is seen as part of the Narendra Modi government's strategy to ‘appease’ Swamy, who has not been ‘accommodated’ in the Cabinet.  

If sources in the Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) are to be believed, HRD Minister Smriti Irani has discussed the matter with Swamy and the latter has agreed to accept the offer provided he gets a cabinet rank stature.

Sources said the ministry had already sent the proposal for constituting a search-cum-selection committee for JNU VC to President Pranab Mukherjee, who happens to be the visitor of the universities.

The motive behind proposing Swamy’s name for the coveted post is to promote the Modi government’s vision in JNU, which is dominated by the Left ideology. Also, the HRD Ministry is mulling a course correction by starting some bachelor programmes. However, plans for such a change have not moved an inch due to <g data-gr-id="21">strong</g> objection of students and teachers.

Interestingly, the development comes even before the Union Ministry is to finalise the search-cum-selection committee for selecting the new VC. So far, JNU has 11 VCs, including the incumbent VC SK Sudhir Kumar Sopori, who has been at the helm of affairs since 2011. <g data-gr-id="20">Sopory</g> is set to retire in 

January next year.

As per rules, before the announcement of the new VC, the HRD Ministry sends the names selected by the committee to the President. The advertisements for inviting applications from the interested candidates for appointment of the VC were given in August this year.