Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday described as "ridiculous" a Delhi University professor's "mark jihad" remarks against the Kerala education board after a large number of students from the southern state applied to DU colleges for higher studies with good marks.
Responding to remarks by Rakesh Kumar Pandey, a member of RSS-affiliated teachers' body National Democratic Teachers' Front, who had hinted at a "conspiracy" behind the high number of applicants from Kerala, Tharoor said, "This anti-Kerala bias must end now!"
The Delhi University also dismissed allegations of favouritism towards state boards on Thursday and said it maintains "equity to all meritorious candidates coming not only from Indian states but also from abroad".
"The use of "jihad" as a synonym for any trend you don't like is exceeding all limits: now a DU teacher has got attention by absurdly decrying #MarksJihad!," Tharoor tweeted, sharing the link of a news report carrying Pandey's controversial remarks.
"I've always decried the over-reliance on marks as the main criterion for DU admission, but this is ridiculous. If "Jihad" means a struggle (with yourself above all), the Kerala students scoring 100% have struggled against the odds to get to DU. Interview them first if you wish before letting them in, but don't demonise their marks! This anti-Kerala bias must end now!", the Thiruvananthapuram MP tweeted.
In a statement on Wednesday, Pandey had alleged that "the invasion of Kerala board students with perfect 100 per cent marks cannot be considered as unplanned."
"It hints at something that must be investigated. There is no way that one can accept this inexplicable flow of students from the Kerala board as normal. Majority of these students are comfortable neither in Hindi nor in English. All these students do not have 100 per cent marks in Class 11," Pandey had said, calling it a "marks jihad".
His comments met criticism from other faculty members and student outfits.
Amid these allegations by Pandey, Registrar Vikas Gupta said the university is an equal opportunity provider.
"Being a Central university, the University of Delhi equally and uniformly values the academic credentials of all the candidates irrespective of their states and school boards.
"This year too, equal opportunity was maintained by accepting applications based on the merit only," he said in a statement. He dismissed reports of favouritism.
Over 100 admissions of students of the Kerala board were put on hold by the Delhi University (DU) over a confusion related to their marksheets, but the matter was resolved after officials contacted the board in the southern state, sources had said on Wednesday.
In the first cut-off list, 60,904 candidates have applied to various colleges, according to data shared by the registrar.
Out of these, 46,054 were from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the rest from all other boards across the country.
By the end of Thursday, 31,172 candidates from CBSE, 2,365 from Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education, 1,540 from Board of School Education Haryana, 1,429 from Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations and 1,301 from Board of Secondary Education Rajasthan in addition to other state boards have successfully secured their admissions, he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
