India’s top liberal university in crisis amid resignations and reports of ‘political pressure’

ne of India’s top liberal universities has been rocked by back-to-back resignations of top faculty members, allegedly due to the fact that one was a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government.

Dr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, 54, a political scientist and a professor at Ashoka University in Delhi, said in a resignation letter dated 15 March that his “association with the university may be considered a political liability”, reigniting a national discussion on the consequences of criticising Mr Modi and his government in India.

It comes at a time when plenty of India’s top universities are in turmoil following student-led protests and years of increasing clampdown on dissent, as critics of Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government have alleged harassment from the authorities.