Varanasi: The students of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) opposed the varsity’s decision to appoint industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s wife, Nita Ambani, as a visiting professor. They see it as a “wrong example” being set by the university.
A group of over 40 students protested outside vice-chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar’s residence on the campus and submitted a memorandum on Tuesday.
The varsity’s Social Sciences Faculty had recently sent a proposal to Reliance Foundation, urging Nita Ambani to join the university as a visiting faculty at their Women Study Centre, reported news agency ANI.
“We do academic and research work related to women empowerment, along with graduation and post-graduation courses. Following the BHU tradition of involving philanthropic industrialists, we sent a letter to the Reliance Foundation asking Nita Ambani to join the Women Study Centre as a visiting professor so that we can benefit from her experience. We did this because the Reliance Foundation has done a lot of work in the field of women empowerment,” the university’s Dean of the Social Sciences Faculty, Kaushal Kishore Mishra was quoted as saying by ANI.
The Women Study Centre of the Social Sciences Faculty that was set up nearly a couple of decades ago, has three posts for visiting professors.
While confirming the proposal sent to Nita Ambani, the authorities also said that the other two names considered for the remaining two visiting faculty posts were that of Priti Adani, the wife of industrialist Gautam Adani, and Usha Mittal, wife of UK-based steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
Research scholar Shubham Tiwari, one of the protesting students, alleged that the step “smacked of a conspiracy”. “We are setting up a wrong example. Being the wife of a rich person is not an achievement and these people cannot be our icons. If you talk about women empowerment, then invite icons like Arunima Sinha, Bachendri Pal, Mary Kom or Kiran Bedi,” Tiwari was quoted as saying by the agency.
According to Tiwary, vice-chancellor Bhatnagar told them that he had no information about the proposal being sent to Nita Ambani.
