MGAHV: CJP backs students' protest at Wardha Hindi University, demands withdrawal of FIRs against six scholars

WARDHA: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has announced support for students of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAHV) protesting against course transfers and stalled PhD admissions, calling for the rollback of FIRs registered against six research scholars.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on Saturday asserted that the peaceful agitation should not be suppressed through police cases, while the University defended the criminal cases and interim campus bans, citing that the protest had disrupted the administration.

Students of the MGAHV, a central university established in 1997, launched their protest in July, with six research scholars still agitating at the Wardha district collectorate.

Talking to PTI on Monday, Niranjan Oberay, a research scholar and convenor of Samyak Vidyarthi Andolan, said that the University had discontinued the Women's Studies and Film Studies courses from the Wardha campus and shifted them to the University's Prayagraj centre in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. He also claimed that PhD admissions have been closed for the last four years.

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250 students signed petition

In July, more than 250 students signed a petition and submitted it to the vice-chancellor and registrar, demanding the resumption of PhD admissions and the departments of Women's Studies and Film Studies, he said. Oberay said that in August, the University had lodged a police complaint against the students, and subsequently an FIR was registered against six students, including him, at Ram Nagar police station.

The six were then barred from the University premises, he said. Dipke visited the protesting students at Wardha Collectorate on Saturday and extended his support. "These students are fighting for their rights; they are fighting for the 'right to education' that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar gave them and that the Constitution guarantees, and fighting for that right cannot be a criminal activity," the CJP convenor said, demanding the withdrawal of FIRs.

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Campus entry restricted for six

Meanwhile, the University, in a statement, said no student or group can be allowed to disrupt the University's administrative or academic functioning in the name of expressing demands, to lock offices, to obstruct the movement of officers and staff, or to damage university property.

It clarified that entry to the university campus has been restricted for six research scholars until the disciplinary committee's inquiry is completed. An official said that PhD admissions have resumed and the University is deliberating on the issue of courses shifted to Prayagraj.