‘Undermines institutional neutrality’: K.C. Venugopal slams Kerala VCs who attended RSS event, demands resignation

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress General Secretary, Organisation, K.C. Venugopal, on Monday launched a strong political attack on three Kerala Vice Chancellors who attended an RSS centenary-related programme, describing their participation as contravening enlightened academic leadership and demanding their immediate resignation.

The controversy erupted after Vice Chancellors from three Kerala universities — the Kerala University, the Mahatma Gandhi University, and the Malayalam University — attended a lecture series organised in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday as part of RSS centenary celebrations, where RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat also addressed the gathering.

Venugopal termed their presence at the event as deeply inappropriate and an affront to the secular and democratic values of the state’s higher education system.

In a strongly worded statement, the Congress leader said individuals who carry the RSS ideology in their mindset are not qualified to head educational institutions.

He alleged that such participation reflects alignment with an ideology that betrayed India’s freedom struggle and undermined secular principles and insisted that university leadership must remain strictly within the framework of constitutional values and academic integrity.

The Congress leader said the actions of the Vice Chancellors amounted to an embarrassment for Kerala’s academic community and urged them to step down without delay.

He suggested that if they wished to align themselves with RSS ideology, they should relinquish academic positions and join RSS camps under its leadership.

Venugopal further argued that the role of Vice Chancellors demands strong academic credentials, commitment to secularism, democratic outlook, and loyalty to the Constitution, rather than ideological proximity to any organisation.

He described the participation of university heads in such events as undermining institutional neutrality.

He also criticised what he called the RSS’s attempt to influence educational spaces, stating that Kerala would not allow any ideological system that promotes divisive narratives to take root in public institutions.

According to him, the state must remain vigilant in protecting constitutional values from what he termed pseudo-nationalist influences.

The remarks have intensified an ongoing political debate in Kerala over the involvement of senior academic figures in ideological forums, with opposition parties and ruling fronts continuing to trade sharp accusations over institutional neutrality and academic freedom.

On expected lines, there was perfect unanimity on the issue among the Congress and the CPI-M-led Left, with Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan also slamming the attendance of the three VCs at the RSS event, while top state BJP leaders, including Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V. Muraleedharan, expressed their ire against those who attacked the VCs.

IANS