JNU students oppose invite to Ramdev to speak at meet

Terming the move a "silent right-wing onslaught" on JNU, the students have asked university officials to withdraw their invitation to the yoga guru to attend the '22nd International Congress of Vedanta' or face protests.

The convention -- organised by the university's Special Center for Sankrit Studies in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, USA and the Center for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth -- will go on from December 27 to December 30.

Ramdev has been invited to deliver the key-note address on December 30.

"It is very unfortunate to know that JNU has allowed 'Baba' Ramdev to be invited as a keynote speaker in the Valedictory Ceremony of the Congress of Vedanta.

"It does not befit the stature of an academic institution like JNU to have persons with such a questionable background to address an academic gathering," said Shehla Rashid Shora, vice-president of the JNU students' union.

Flaying Ramdev, the students charged that the invitation to him takes JNU "several steps back".

The students also said that Ramdev's presence at the meet does not make any sense as he is neither an academician nor a professor and hence the university should withdraw its proposal to invite him.

The university spokesperson, meanwhile, was not available for comments on the issue.