Allahabad V-C takes U-turn on ''political interference'' remark, calls HRD minister 'brilliant'

Allahabad University V-C RL Hangloo has written a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman stating that there has been no interference from the HRD Minister in the functioning of university.

Allahabad: A day after accusing the Centre of its alleged growing ''political interference'' in the administrative matters related to the functioning of universities, the Allahabad University Vice-Chancellor has now taken a U-turn on the issue.

As per reports, Allahabad University Vice Chancellor RL Hangloo has written a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman clearly stating that there has been no interference from the Union HRD Minister in the functioning of this university.

In his letter, Hangloo has stated that Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani has ''never interfered in the functioning of this university."   

Prof Hangloo further said that Irani "has always encouraged us with her rare flash of brilliance."

While maintaining that there have been "twisted statements by the press and media'', the Allahabad V-C urged the Rajya Sabha Chairperson to ''ignore'' such things.

Professor Hangloo had on Tuesday lashed out at what he called political interference for being forced to offer offline entrance tests  after streamlining the whole process online.

"If politicians continue to interfere, we all will have to leave. Then government can run the university as per their opinion. Then it would be better to have MLAs or MPs as VCs in place of academicians," the vice chancellor had said in what was seen as a direct attack on the government, which has grappled recently with controversies and protests at some of the country's best universities.

Hangloo has come under attack over his move to shift admissions online.

In his defence, Hangloo had said that he implemented online forms after a push by the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet Digital India programme. But after a fact-finding team of MPs visited the university, he got a letter from the ministry that it "has no objection to the offline option also" for this year.  

Students allege that an online-only admission process discriminates against students from villages who do not have access to the Internet. They have called off their strike after Hangloo rolled back his decision.