2 DU colleges ask faculty to share posts about Operation Sindoor, draw flak
However, DU Registrar Vikas Gupta said there was no 'official communication' to colleges regarding the matter.
The identical notices issued by the two colleges showed a link to an X account with the V-C's name — which has been active for the past six days — and has been posting about Operation Sindoor. The notice, dated May 12, said the 'collective effort' of retweeting aims to 'express gratitude to the Indian Armed Forces'.
The Hindu could not independently verify if the X account in question actually belonged to the V-C.
'Pushing agenda'
Jitendra Kumar Meena, an assistant professor at Shyam Lal College, said, 'The posts that we were asked to share had nothing to do with academics. If it was DU's official channel sharing notifications, that would have still been acceptable. But here, they are attempting to use teachers, students and staff to push out an agenda.'
Meanwhile, Abha Dev Habib, a professor at the university, slammed the move, and said, 'For the V-C's opinion to be shared, and to be treated as truth, is rather strange. This is part of a larger top-down assault on the university, which is being used to spread government messaging.'
The Democratic Teachers' Front, in a statement on Thursday, called for the revocation of any such notice. The statement said, 'Compelling participation in social media campaigns—especially those tied to a specific authority figure—transforms educational spaces into echo chambers for the ruling-party's propaganda. Authentic support for the Indian armed forces does not require any performative servility to a Twitter/X handle.'
Arun Kumar Attree, principal of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College said, 'We took the step after we received a forwarded mail about a UGC campaign in support of 'Nation First'. The shared posts were intended to motivate the armed forces, and there was no political motive.'
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