Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, the recently appointed Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), has distanced herself from a contentious Twitter account in her name just one day after her appointment. "Not mine," she stated in answer to a question from The Hindu on Tuesday about whether the unconfirmed account @SantishreeD belonged to her.
Following the announcement of Dr Pandit's appointment on Monday, the account, which utilised her full name and job title as a professor, sparked tremendous criticism on Twitter. On social media, screenshots of comments that used communal language and called students, farmers, politicians, and activists names went viral. For the day, the account expanded from 500 to almost 5000 followers before being deleted in the evening.
Dr Pandit did not respond to further queries from The Hindu on whether she was aware of who was using the account and whether she had requested its deletion.
‘Extremist Naxal groups’
Tweets from the account referred to several JNU professors and students as "losers" and "extremist Naxal groups" who should be barred from campus. The tweet went on to say that financing for famous educational institutions like St. Stephen's College and Jamia Millia Islamia University should be cut, calling them "communal campuses."
Speaking Sanskrit was described as "civilisationally Hindu" in one tweet, while an Indian Christian was referred to as a "rice bag convert" in another. Sunni Islam radicals referred to the so-called "love jihad" as "terror by other means" in tweets. Several Muslims and civil society activists have been labelled jihadists, with one tweet urging them to be treated "as the Chinese do."
Criticism of China
China was likewise labelled a "rogue nation" and received a lot of criticism. COVID-19 was dubbed the "China virus" in tweets, which accused China of using "bioterror" and "biowarfare" to gain hegemony and ruin the Indian economy. Media accounts of the brutal second wave of COVID-19 were labelled "fear psychosis" in late April 2020, according to Twitter.
In internal politics, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has been referred to as an "Italian remote control," and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has been referred to as a "pathological liar," with one tweet adding that no Hindu should vote for him. Farm unions protesting were referred to as parasitic middlemen, riffraff, and liars.
Earlier, in a tweet congratulating Dr Pandit for making history as the first woman VC appointed in JNU’s 50th anniversary year, Manish Dabhade, an assistant professor at the university’s School of International Studies, thanked RSS leaders as well as the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, Education Minister for “scripting” the appointment. “JNU is indeed in safe, competent hands now with this brilliant mind at its helm,” he added.