‘National integrity a must’: Minister Jitendra Singh on Jammu professor’s Bhagat Singh remark

A day after the head of department of political science in Jammu University professor Muhammad Tajjudin was suspended for calling freedom fighter Bhagat Singh a terrorist, MoS PMO, Jitendra Singh, has said that a university can’t be used as a platform for anti-India meeting and that there has to be commitment to national integrity.

“Universities can’t be used as platforms for anti-India meetings. I am personally in favour of free flow of ideas, thoughts and ideology. But the bottom line has to be the commitment to national integrity,” said MoS PMO J Singh on JNU incidents and Jammu University.

Professor Tajjudin was suspended on Friday after a video showing him calling freedom fighter Bhagat Singh a terrorist went viral on social media.

Jammu and Kashmir vice chancellor professor Manoj K Dhar has instituted a six-member committee to look into the incident. “Let’s wait for the outcome of the inquiry committee and based on that, we’ll take further action,” he said.

Professor Tajjudin had later said, “I was teaching Lenin in the class, whose brother was killed in a terror act and in that context I mentioned Bhagat Singh. Perhaps, it was not right on my part to say so. I am sorry for the remark. I called him a terrorist but those who believed in non-violence, especially Gandhians equated him with terrorism.”

He added, “Probably, students were not mature enough to grasp the concept. I had no intention to hurt their sentiments. The students could have shared their concern with me rather than making a video and sharing it on social media. Probably, I went wrong and I am really sorry for it”.

The video was recorded by a student, Deepak Gupta. “He could have given better examples of Afzal Guru, Ajmal Kasab, Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists... How can one call Bhagat Singh a terrorist,” he said.