Chandigarh:Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal has written to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar demanding appointment of a Sikh Vice Chancellor for the Punjab University, Chandigarh. He expressed concern that not a single Sikh vice-chancellor has been appointed for Punjab University for 76 years.
Badal further said that so far 36 senators have been nominated out of which only 2 are Sikhs and not a single Sikh was appointed to 14 academic and administrative posts. He said that the issues and demands of Punjabi and Sikh students can be understood better by a Sikh VC and it is unfortunate that Sikhs are not being considered for such high posts.
Some people have said that there have been many incidents of discrimination against Punjabis and Sikhs in Chandigarh and what could be a bigger discrimination than not making a Sikh as the VC of the university for 76 years. Prof Pali Bhupinder Singh of Punjab University Chandigarh, talking to ETV Bharat, said that the letter written to the VP has a completely valid reason.
Prof Singh said it is unethical to make appointments in educational institutions on the basis of religion and caste, but since the establishment of Punjab University, no Sikh has been appointed as the VC of the university. He said that he has not read Sukhbir Badal's letter but he has read the tweets, in which the issue of discrimination against Sikhs has been discussed. He further said that being a professor at this university, he is also a witness to the discrimination against Sikhs there.
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Prof Singh claimed that the previous VC Raj Kumar was appointed not on the basis of merit but because he was an RSS member. When Raj Kumar joined on the first day, he first went to the RSS office instead of going to the University, then went straight to the temple and in four years of his tenure, he did not help the university academically and faced allegations of corruption. Raj Kumar used to address himself as Acharya instead of Professor in the official letters, he said.
