Banaras Hindu University to erase Rajiv Gandhi’s name from south campus

VARANASI: Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has proposed to strike out the name of the late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi from its South Campus at Barkachha, in UP’s Mirzapur district, which was inaugurated on August 19, 2006 by then HRD minister Arjun Singh.
Congress, however, has strongly opposed the proposal and warned it would protest against any such “misadventure”. A former BHU vicechancellor, Prof Panjab Singh, said he is against changing the name of the campus.
The BHU court, in its recently held 63rd meeting on December 9, has made a recommendation in this regard.The meeting was chaired by chancellor Justice Giridhar Malviya (Retd). “The court members unanimously proposed removal of Rajiv Gandhi’s name from the South Campus,” Justice Malviya told TOI over the phone on Thursday.
“As Delhi University too has North and South campuses, the court decided to recommend the change in name to the academic council,” he said adding that it is up to the council to consider the proposal.
Members of the BHU court who attended the meeting included Prof Anand Mohan, Dr A K Singh, Prof Bachcha Singh, Prof Ashim Kumar Mukherjee, Dr Ram Naresh Mishra, Prof Arvind Kumar, Prof Bharatendu K Singh, Dr Sanjay Srivastava, Vandana Jha, Dr Om Prakash, Dr Mahendra Kumar Gupta, Prof Rajeev Sijaria, Dr Sriram Verma, Prof Jitendra Prasad, Dr K D Tripathi, Prof Santosh Kumar, Prof Rekha Chaturvedi, Dr Hemendra Singh Chandalia, Prof Aruna Saraswat, Prof Anand Paliwal, Suman Kumar, Dr Raksha Singh, Prof Sudha Sinha, Prof S S Savrikar, Dr K V S S Narayan Rao, Dr S K Verma, Dr S K Subraya, Prof Chandrakant Dwayandev Lokhande, Aniket Diwakar Kale, and Prof Aditya Tripathi.
The meeting was also attended by the registrar, Dr Neeraj Tripathi; the rector, Prof V K Shukla; the finance officer, Dr Abhay Kumar Thakur; and comptroller of examinations M K Pandey. The Rajiv Gandhi South Campus sprawls over 2,600 acres and was developed as a potential hub for education, training and entrepreneurship development for youth and women, especially those belonging to tribes and weaker sections of society. According to BHU records, the campus acquired by BHU on lease in perpetuity from Bharat Mandal Trust in April 1979 is about 8 km southwest of Mirzapur town on Robertsganj highway.
The campus witnessed major development during the tenure of former VC Prof Panjab Singh. The South Campus was inaugurated during his tenure.
“The name of the South Campus was suggested by then HRD minister Arjun Singh, and we agreed to it. I don’t see any reason now to change the name,” Singh told TOI, adding, “South Campus was named after the former Prime Minister after discussions hence there is no point changing it.”
Senior Congress politician and former MLA Ajay Rai warned of an agitation if Rajiv Gandhi’s name was removed. “We will fight against any such move by BHU,” said Rai, accusing the central government of doing nothing new except changing names of institutions.