1/3 of Vidyapith trustees resign over chancellor’s RSS background | India News

AHMEDABAD

: A day ahead of Gujarat Vidyapith‘s convocation, eight of the 24 trustees on its governing council resigned on Monday over the process for selection of the chancellor of the university, causing a major embarrassment to the Gandhian institution. Never in history have such a large number of trustees resigned in this manner at the university established by Mahatma Gandhi.
In a joint statement, the trustees appealed to governor Acharya Devvrat, who recently accepted the invitation of the Vidyapith Pratinidhi Mandal to be the next chancellor, to decline the invitation. Devvrat has an RSS background.
On Monday, Vidyapith in charge registrar Nikhil Bhatt issued a press release saying the “resignations of eight trustees have not been accepted” and “an eight-member team will have a dialogue with resigning trustees”. The present chancellor, Ela Bhatt, a social activist and founder of Self-Employed Women’s Association, is set to preside over her last convocation on Tuesday.
In their appeal to the governor, the trustees wrote: “We humbly appeal to the newly selected chancellor, that as you would be aware of the circumstances of your selection… it was neither spontaneous nor the unanimous decision of the board of trustees…in total disregard of Gandhi’s values, methods and practices….Your excellency, to uphold the fundamental values of democracy and transparent autonomous decision-making you have the opportunity to set an example by declining to take charge as chancellor.” tnn