Three VCs at RSS Event, 19 Sangh Parivar Members in MG Senate; Pinarayi Vijayan questions silence of Chief Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan has voiced strong concern and sharp criticism over the appointment of an RSS-linked individual as Acting Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University and the inclusion of 19 Sangh Parivar workers in the university Senate, calling it alarming that the state government and the Higher Education Department have shown no willingness to resist these moves.

Pinarayi noted that the current government's stance appears to be one of avoiding any confrontation with the Governor. He recalled that efforts to take over Keralam's universities through Sangh Parivar networks began as far back as 2018, when Arif Mohammed Khan — a Governor with RSS leanings — assumed office, and that it was the LDF government that had firmly resisted those attempts.

The Opposition Leader pointed out that the LDF had previously introduced legislation in the state assembly specifically aimed at preventing the saffronisation of universities. The UDF, he noted pointedly, had vigorously opposed that very bill in the legislature — the same bill designed to protect higher education from ideological capture.

Pinarayi also flagged as deeply troubling the participation of Vice Chancellors of Kerala University, MG University, and Malayalam University in an event attended by RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. At a time when serious concerns are already being raised about Sangh Parivar agendas being imposed on university campuses, the presence of sitting Vice Chancellors at an RSS program sends an unmistakable signal, he said — one that secular Keralam cannot take lightly.

This, Pinarayi said, is a clear illustration of how the RSS is seeking to consolidate its grip on higher education. He questioned why neither the Chief Minister, nor his ministers, nor any constituent party of the UDF has responded to these developments, asking pointedly why the UDF government and its leadership appear so reluctant to stand up against the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.