Minority panel issues notice to JNU over prof's remarks on Dalits, Muslims

March 18, 2016

New Delhi, Mar 18: The National Commission for Minorities has issued a notice to JNU authorities over a professor's alleged remarks calling Dalits and Muslim teachers "anti-national", days after the National Commission for Scheduled Caste issued a similar notice.

Amita Singh, who is the chairperson of the varsity's school of governance has made the alleged comments in an interview to a web portal.

"A complaint has been received by the National Commission for Minorities regarding derogatory remarks by professor Amita Singh. You are hereby requested to submit the facts and information and the action taken on allegations/matter within five days of this notice," the letter sent to the JNU Vice Chancellor said.

The varsity administration has already asked Singh to clarify her remarks after the VC had received a letter from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes on March 8.

On being asked by the interviewer "how many teachers and students in JNU are anti-national" in her interview to the website, the professor had said, "Teachers are hardly 10 but they portray as if everybody is with them. You think a teacher in an institution like JNU would be so stupid as to back anti-national slogans? These are just five or six persons and they are Dalits and Muslims. They have their grudges."

The faculty member talks about anti-national activities in JNU, the family background of students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar and another student Umar Khalid.

The teacher had also alleged about foreign funding to anti-nationals while claiming that Bijnore, from where one of the arrested JNU student hails, is a "den of terrorism and Islamic State." According to the professor, one student still in custody believes in "strong Kashmiriyat".

The professor has been maintaining that she was quoted out of context in the interview.

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Over 58 lakh names dropped from draft voter list in Bengal ahead of polls

News Network

December 16,2025

The deletion of over 58 lakh names from West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has sparked widespread concern and is likely to deepen political tensions in the poll-bound state.

According to the Election Commission, the revision exercise has identified 24 lakh voters as deceased, 19 lakh as relocated, 12 lakh as missing, and 1.3 lakh as duplicate entries. The draft list, published after the completion of the first phase of SIR, aims to remove errors and duplication from the electoral rolls.

However, the scale of deletions has raised fears that a large number of eligible voters may have been wrongly excluded. The Election Commission has said that individuals whose names are missing can file objections and seek corrections. The final voter list is scheduled to be published in February next year, after which the Assembly election announcement is expected. Notably, the last Special Intensive Revision in Bengal was conducted in 2002.

The development has intensified the political row over the SIR process. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have strongly opposed the exercise, accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters ahead of the elections.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar earlier this month, Banerjee urged people to protest if their names were removed from the voter list, alleging intimidation during elections and warning of serious consequences if voting rights were taken away.

The BJP, meanwhile, has defended the revision and accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising the issue to protect what it claims is an illegal voter base. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the ruling party fears losing power due to the removal of deceased, fake, and illegal voters.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by the Trinamool Congress that excessive work pressure during the SIR led to the deaths by suicide of some Booth Level Officers (BLOs), for which the party blamed the Election Commission. With the draft list now out, another round of political confrontation appears imminent.

As objections begin to be filed, the focus will be on whether the correction mechanism is accessible, transparent, and timely—critical factors in ensuring that no eligible voter is denied their democratic right ahead of a crucial election.

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