In a significant action against casteism in campuses, the Karnataka state government has recommended that the ‘Deemed-to-be University’ status of Jain University be withdrawn. In a letter to the Union Ministry of Education, the government stated that the management of the university was aware of the casteist dialogues in a skit performed by students of the University at a college fest in February 2023, and did nothing to prevent it.
“This incident caused unrest in society and hurt the sentiments of the public. The state government considered the incident seriously and caused inspection thereof and obtained the report. From the report, it became evident that the management of the University was well aware of the script, content, and dialogues of the script. In spite of that, the management of the University did not prevent the students from performing the said skit,” the government’s letter noted.
The skit was enacted by ‘The Delroys Boys’, the theatre group from Jain University’s Centre for Management Studies, as part of ‘Mad-Ads’, a segment at the college fest where participants are to advertise imaginary products with humour. The dialogues had casteist references to Dr BR Ambedkar, which the performers justified as “subversive wit”. This incident was taken up by a few other students with the organisers of the event, only to be dismissed. Later, they published a petition on Jhatkaa.org, along with snippets from the skit, which garnered wide attention after it was reported by TNM.
“The skit they performed showcased a man from a lowered caste background trying to date an upper-caste woman. The makers turned BR Ambedkar into ‘Beer Ambedkar’ and used several other problematic phrases like ‘Why be Dalit when you can be D-Lit’, to supposedly spark humour,” one of the petitioners had told TNM in February when the incident occurred. Following this, seven students, the principal, and the programme organiser of Jain University’s Centre for Management Studies, were arrested by the Bengaluru police on February 13 and later left on bail.
Now, the Karnataka government, after studying an inspection report of the incident, has said that the management enabled the performance despite knowing the dialogues and content.
The letter also cited that the University “acted insincerely by rusticating all the students who partook in the skit”. “The irresponsible attitude of the University deserves strong condemnation and attracts stringent action,” the letter underlined, recommending that Jain’s ‘Deemed-to-be University’ status be revoked.
“The apparent maladministration and mismanagement of the University has constrained the state government to invoke coercive measures against that University. Accordingly, I am directed to request you to withdraw the Notification declaring Jain University as Institution deemed to be University at the earliest…” the letter, signed by Nandakumar B, Karnataka government’s Higher Education Department Under Secretary, noted.
Jain University is a private University with its headquarters in Bengaluru. It was given the ‘Deemed-to-be University’ status in 2009, before which it was known as Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College. When an educational institution is accredited with a ‘Deemed-to-be University’ status, they enjoy autonomy in deciding the fees, syllabus, as well as the procedure for admissions, just like any other university in the country.
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