Gandhi scholar quits Indian university after nationalist pressure.

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New institute faced pressure from Hindu nationalists after appointing Ramachandra Guha.

Mahatma Gandhi. The Guardian understands the newly established Ahmedabad University faced political resistance over the appointment of Guha. Photograph: Central Press/Getty Images
▼ An Indian biographer of Mahatma Gandhiwill no longer teach at a university in the independence leader’s home state after the institute came under pressure from critics including Hindu nationalist student groups complaining his work was “anti-national”.
Ramachandra Guha, an Indian public intellectual whose works have covered cricket, the environment, contemporary Indian history and the life of  Gandhi, had been announced in September as the newest faculty member at Ahmedabad University in Gujarat state.
Last week, after a student union affiliated with India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party complained about Guha’s appointment, the writer said on Twitter he was no longer joining the university.
“Due to circumstances beyond my control, I shall not be joining Ahmedabad University,” he wrote, adding: “May the spirit of Gandhi one day come alive once more in his native Gujarat.”
Ramachandra Guha(@Ram_Guha)
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I shall not be joining Ahmedabad University. I wish AU well; it has fine faculty and an outstanding Vice Chancellor. And may the spirit of Gandhi one day come alive once more in his native Gujarat.
November 1, 2018
The Guardian understands the newly established university faced political resistance over the appointment and asked Guha to defer the start of his post until after parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place before May. Since the appointment had already been announced, Guha decided not to take up the post rather than delay its commencement without explanation, sources said.
His selection as a professor of humanities had earned the ire of members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student group affiliated to the ruling party of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
A memorandum penned by the group and addressed to the university’s vice-chancellor said Guha’s work was “critical of India’s Hindu culture”. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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