A student group from the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Bombay has issued a statement against a set of guidelines released by the administration of the institution in a post on Instagram.
The student group, Ambedkar, Periyar, Phule study circle (APPSC) which responds to issues impacting students in IIT-B, said that they refuse to abide by the guidelines instated by the institution.
In the post, the student group condemned the administration's move to make the campus and its stakeholders 'apolitical'. The post said, "The institute has issued the most 'political' set of guidelines by reducing the students to apolitical masses who should not be concerned with society."
IIT-B didnt not immediately respond to FPJ's request for comment.
The instructions come in the backdrop of two events related to the ongoing violence in the Middle East on the IIT-B campus attracting heated reactions from the students and activists across the political divide.
A documentary screening and virtual talk by Sudhanva Deshpande on Monday was panned for 'promoting violence and armed conflict' and resulted in a complaint to the police and a protest outside the institute. A lecture by writer Achin Vanaik was cancelled, after he was called a 'Hamas supporter' on social media. This led to criticism from a section of students, who complained of 'intimidation' and 'loss of academic freedom' on campus.
