Three vice-chancellors of state-funded universities in Kerala have invited heavy criticism from the Congress-led V.D. Satheesan government and the Opposition CPI(M) for attending a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event addressed by the Sangh’s chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Dr Mohan Kunnummal of the Kerala University of Health Sciences in Thrissur; Mavoothu D., who helms the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam; and Dr C.R. Prasad, in-charge of the Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University in Malappuram; were front-row attendees of the RSS centenary year lecture held in Thiruvananthapuram on June 13. The list of special invitees was drawn by the state RSS leadership.
Chief minister Satheeshan was scathing in his remarks on the vice-chancellors. “They must offer a public apology as they have committed grave lapses by demeaning the dignity of their posts. The government will see what action can be taken to prevent such acts of vice-chancellors stooping to the level of RSS workers,” Satheeshan said to INDIA TODAY.
His cabinet colleagues, home minister Ramesh Chennithala and minister for higher education Roji M. John, too questioned the presence of the vice-chancellors at the RSS function.
Kunnummal was appointed to the Kerala University of Health Sciences during the tenure of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front government in 2019, bypassing vehement criticism by the Congress.
Mavoothu was formerly director of the School of Management Studies at the Cochin University of Science and Technology. Prasad, in his previous role, headed the Department of Kerala Studies in the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.
Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan blamed the episode on the government. “The UDF (United Democratic Front) government is yielding too much to assimilate RSS ideology into higher education. This is a case of active collaboration with the BJP, a thanksgiving of sorts for facilitating the Congress’s victory in the Kerala polls,” Vijayan claimed to INDIA TODAY.
The BJP’s counterattack had party MLA and former Union minister V. Muraleedharan accusing the Congress and CPI(M) of “political intolerance”. “The RSS is not a banned organisation, and university statutes do not bar participation in such events,” Muraleedharan said.
While the issue is likely to boil over politically, the Satheesan government can technically take no action against the vice-chancellors. That rests in the realm of only the governor since he is the chancellor of state-run varsities.
Meanwhile, in another seemingly contentious move, the government has appointed B. Ashok, a 1998 batch IAS officer, as principal secretary, higher education. His suspension by the Vijayan government over violation of service rules was revoked this month.
Kerala has 20 universities—15 are state-run, one is central, and four are technical varsities. Appointments to higher education in Kerala have been a politically sensitive issue over which governments and governors have repeatedly locked horns. Governors have been accused by the party in power of interfering in the affairs of universities. The Vijayan government had initiated a failed move to remove Arif Mohammad Khan, the governor from 2019 to 2025, as chancellor. Khan had removed several vice-chancellors by questioning their merit.
The Left Front government was accused by the Opposition of picking party sympathisers as vice-chancellors. The Save University Campaign Committee, an organisation with Congress figures in it, had led a series of campaigns against such appointments and those to the academic councils.
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