Quality of Maharashtra’s universities declining due to rising RSS influence, says Rohit Pawar

Nagpur: NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Tuesday alleged that the quality of public universities in Maharashtra is going down due to the "rising influence" of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which will impact the future of today's youth. If this trend continues, then other countries will move forward and progress, while India will lag behind, he said.

Talking to PTI Videos on the premises of the Vidhan Bhavan here, Pawar, who represents the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district, said, "I agree with what Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said in Parliament. In Maharashtra, check the background of deans or Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of many government universities..." "At Pune University, whatever officers are there, check their background. They are from the RSS or belong to the RSS ideology.

The quality that a university should have is not there. Who goes to (takes admission in) these government universities? It is poor people's children, as they can't take admission in private ones," he said.

Since you are running the university like this, its quality is getting bad, and the future of the youth also gets impacted, Pawar said. "...Not just Pune, it's happening in all universities. What Rahul Gandhi ji is saying is true...We also feel that there are so many universities where RSS's influence is increasing a lot," the NCP (SP) legislator alleged.

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When asked if there is an agenda behind all this, Pawar said, "Yes, 100 per cent. Funding is happening through the government, from the central and state governments. Many volunteers belonging to the RSS are placed in the university.

Their job is only to take the RSS or the BJP's agenda to people. Government funds are being misused. If this continues like this, then the (rest of the) world will go ahead, but we will stay where we are. It will be a loss to the poor."

Pawar added, "All of us say that democracy is needed. But the way this government is running, the central government has become very centralised as it is run from just two or three offices. In Maharashtra, only Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is running the government. So this is totally against equality, totally against democracy."

During elections in Maharashtra, the ruling parties rake up issues like OBC-Maratha reservation. During the Mumbai civic elections, issues like Marathi and non-Marathi, vegetarian and non-vegetarian food will be raised, he said.