Is this the new JNU VC? Tweets call farmers ‘parasites’; AAP ‘fraud’; JNU students ‘losers’

NEW DELHI: A Twitter account in the name of the newly-appointed Jawaharlal Nehru University new vice-chancellor, Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, expresses clearly partisan views on a host of political and social issues.

The screenshots of the tweets have evocated strong responses from social media users who termed the new VC a "hatemonger". After severe social media backlash, the account has since been deleted.

Posts at the account under the name ‘Dr. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit’ call protesting farmers “parasites”; retweeted a tweet claiming that MK Gandhi’s last words being “He Ram!" is a “myth”; and describe anti-BJP students and teachers, at the university Pandit has been picked to lead, as “losers at JNU”.

Also, the account owner really does not like the Aam Aadmi Party. “Expected all riff raff, parasites, middlemen and Dalals this so called farmers’ movement and AAP,” she wrote in one post; called the chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal “a pathological liar” in another; and a third said “No Hindu must vote for AAP”.

Another post bumps up a post depicting “Hindus in West Bengal” as sheep, presumably for not voting the BJP to power in the 2021 state elections.

The brief Twitter profile just says, “Professor. Academic and researcher.” No sooner was her appointment announced, screenshots from the account started circulating in the student and teacher community. Once she takes charge, she will be the first woman to head JNU.

Pandit, according to her official profile, was born in St.Petersberg (former Leningrad) in Russia. She went to school in Chennai and completed Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes at Presidency College, Chennai. She earned Mphil and PhD in international relations in JNU. Pandit also has a post-doctoral diploma from Uppsala University, Sweden.

During the protests at JNU, the account-holder tweeted that “extremists naxal groups” in JNU should be banned and that “communal campuses” such as Jamia Millia Islamia university and St Stephens College of Delhi University should not be funded.

A tweet saying “Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages” and said that speaking Sanskrit is “being a Hindu civilizationally whatever be your religion” was retweeted

Another retweet was a post on alleged “myths” being taught in the NCERT text books.

Pandit, if she hold the account, was actively against the farmer protest calling the protesting groups and their organisers “parasitic middlemen” who are “liars and losers”.

In April 2021, the account retweeted a tweet that claimed that the farmers protest delayed oxygen delivery to Delhi and called the protesting groups “anti-nationals”.

Another tweet similarly endorsed described the brutal second wave of COVID-19 less infectious and said that a “fear psychosis” is spread by the media to exaggerate the dangers presented by the second wave of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 outbreak was described as an act of “bio-terror” by China to “destroy the Indian economy”.

The account holder felt that people who can afford should pay for vaccines and that “we are killing our companies” when it was initially speculated that the central government will not provide vaccines for free for everyone.

Retweeting an incident from Pakistan where a Hindu girl was allegedly forced into marriage by a Muslim man, a post said that “only a weak and fragile religious group uses force, rape to convert” and that a “loser lobby” is of the opinion that “Hindus have no right to fight back”.

The comment with a retweeted video of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi with former prime minister Manmohan Singh during a function called it “Italian remote control”.

After the West Bengal election which the Trinamool Congress won, a video comparing Hindus in West Bengal to sheep was retweeted.

During the post-poll violence in West Bengal, Pandit called for President’s rule in the state, a common demand from BJP supporters.

An image of journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani with American historian Audrey Truschke has been labelled “vulture with a predator”.

The ruling party in Delhi, AAP, gets numerous tweets. One says: “Who asked the Hindus to vote AAP? This is what they will get. AAP will not stand up for Hindus. Shame on the AAP leadership.” Another says, “AAP most useless. They blame others.” And during the second wave of COVID-19, in the midst of thousands scrambling for oxygen and hospital beds, the account endorsed a post by BJP’s Baijayant Jay Panda with a list of AAP’s alleged failures.

Update: The Twitter account has been deactivated. The copy has been updated to reflect that.