Varun Gandhi criticises new JNU VC, says 'mediocre' appointment will damage youth's future

New Delhi, Feb 8: BJP MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi, on Tuesday criticised the newly appointed Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice chancellor, Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit terming her appointment as 'mediocre' that can damage human capital and youth's future.

Varun Gandhi's comment came in view of the press statement released by Pandit after her appointment as JNU VC on Monday, wherein the BJP leader found grammar mistakes. "This press release from the new JNU VC is an exhibition of illiteracy, littered with grammatical mistakes (would strive vs will strive; students friendly vs student-friendly; excellences vs excellence). Such mediocre appointments serve to damage our human capital & our youth's future," Varun Gandhi said in a tweet on Tuesday morning.

Pandit in her statement soon after the announcement of her appointment had said (verbatim): "As Vice-Chancellor, JNU, I thank both the Hon'ble Prime Minister and 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.

"The immediate focus of this administration would be to provide clean administration, students friendly and gender sensitive environment for academic excellence. "We would strive to implement NEP 2020 the vision of our Hon'ble Prime Minister especially in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary areas of studies, JNU rising to greater heights of academics and research. The focus would in constructing Indo-centric narratives. "I look forward to working with students, faculty and staff to contribute in achieving these objectives. (sic)"

Pandit was appointed as the first female VC of the JNU by the Ministry of Education on Monday. Born in Russia's St. Petersburg, Pandit is fluent in English, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam, and Konkani. She did her schooling in Chennai and topped the state. She also did her B.A. in History and Social Psychology in 1983 from Presidency College in Chennai and did a diploma in Social Work from California State University. Pandit is also a gold medallist.