Chennai: Former assistant professor of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), Vipin K. Veetil has on Friday written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that caste discrimination still exists in the prestigious educational institution and if no action is taken, he will go on a hunger strike.
He also urged the Prime Minister to remove two officials from the institution until the end of the investigation and said he would observe a hunger strike if his demands were not met. He also introduced himself as a member of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community and called for a reinvestigation by the National Commission for Backward Class (NCBC).
"I had been subjected to discrimination and harassment by senior Brahmin professors and the majority Brahmin administration at IIT-M for more than two years, adding that it was this discrimination that led him to resign from the Institution," he stated in the letter.
Following his complaint to the National Commission for the Backward Classes (NCBC) in August 2021, the commission had asked the institution to conduct an inquiry. Vipin also said he had been forced to resign after being interrogated continuously by the then director of the IIT-M and Head of the Humanities and Social Sciences department since the investigation ended in October 2021.
He has called for a proper investigation into the sabotage of the ongoing special recruitment drive for SC, ST, and OBC faculty at the Institute to be investigated by the Government of India. He urged "Jyotirmaya Tripathi, head of the Humanities and Social Science department, and Muralitharan, a member of the board of governors, to step down until the NCBC completes its investigation.
Moreover, if these demands are not met, he would commence 'Nirahara Satyagraha' (hunger strike) on February 24 in front of the Institute's administrative building." It may be recalled that the assistant professor had resigned in July 2021 citing that caste discrimination prevailed among the teaching faculty.
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