Mr. Girish Chandra Tripathi, how do I explain the idea of equality to you?

Girish Chandra Tripathi,  the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University(BHU), has been making headlines for his bizarre statements towards the girl students enrolled in BHU, in fact he has making sweeping statements about women of our nation in general . He says, "girls who study in the night, are immoral", "consumption of non-vegetarian food makes women impure according to the Malviya values”. Who will explain to him that these aren't "values", these are reasons to restrict women from growing in our society.

And here is another gem. “Boys and girls hanging out together is against Indian values”. Really?

Mr. Tripathi has openly been associated with RSS and its ideals. He has even opened up  to opening a RSS unit within the university. He says, "When the Indian government itself is of the RSS, there is nothing wrong in establishing an RSS’ shakha in BHU." RSS's ideology is a known fact all around the nation, it is no secret, there is no misinterpretation, there is no misunderstanding too. Their beliefs are unequal and discriminate against women of our society. How do we trust a man to hold the position of a VC of an institute that houses about 40,000 students?

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We aim to fight against atrocities through better education and awareness, but if our first gate, our first platform to this change is closed, how do we make any progress at all? Mr. Tripathi's views and actions are unapologetic to an extent where he is convinced that women do not and should not study late in the night. The universities 24*7 library service is no longer available for girl students! They had to sign an affidavit that barred them from joining and protest rallies too. Does this sound like a democratic institution that gives women a chance? Taking away an individual's fundamental right of freedom to speech is a criminal move if nothing else! How dare you restrict women from their fundamental and constitutional rights? How dare you give them a rulebook while let men stroll unconditioned? How dare you take us back to primitive age?

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The purpose of institutes is to provide an open environment for education, discussion, debate, and freedom to explore new avenues. But if institutes themselves teach people inequality, how can we look at aiming for a better society that shreds the shackles of discrimination? Can we blame anyone who wants to wage a ideological war against these institutes? I guess we all know the answer.

Feature Image: twitter.com