Delhi University admissions are at their peak with the maximum number of students applying along with the cut-off list. Delhi University is a central university that welcomes students from the entire nation for admission. Students from different regions of India come to the national capital to seek admission into Delhi University. This year, the varsity observed that it receives maximum responses in terms of admission from Kerala. Focusing upon the observation, a professor of Delhi University called such students from Kerala as Marks Jihad.
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WHAT IS MARKS JIHAD?
Rakesh Pandey is a professor of one of the premium colleges of Delhi University, i.e. Kirori Mal College. Observing a major strength of Kerala students during admission time, he has started a campaign. He started his campaign due to the over-admission of Kerala students called it a Leftist-jihadi conspiracy.
Many colleges released a 100 percent DU first cut-off list this year. Kerala Board has granted 100 percentage to many students this year in their board exams. So, one of the colleges of Delhi University was offering 20 seats at a 100 percent cut-off list. As Kerala students are already eligible for the course, the college has to grant admission to all the 26 students applying for it. Although seats were just 20, but Delhi University cannot deny the admission of any candidate if he or she is eligible. So, the professor called the admission process as infiltrate and called the students as Marks Jihad.
WHO IS PROFESSOR RAKESH PANDEY?
The Physics Professor of Delhi University, Prof Rakesh Pandey is the former President of the National Democratic Teacher’s Fund which is an RSS linked teacher’s body. The professor said that calling the students Marks Jihadi is his personal opinion. It doesn’t have any connection with the teacher’s body. Professor Pandey discussed through the campaign how Kerala students have acquired JNU. He called it a similar attempt in the case of Delhi University as well. Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad alleged the same case on the students. Looking upon the allegations, the Student’s Federation of India, SFI, and CPI(M) called both the moves racist and communal.
The online campaign of Marks Jihad is now trending on Twitter alleging the Kerala board and students. On the other hand, the DU Professor said that students applying for admission don’t know Hindi or English which is primarily used in Delhi University. It is quite understood that teachers won’t speak Malayalam. Extending the campaign, the Professor asked the reason for such students coming to DU and called the entire framework as conspiracy. The professor said that students want to come and spread their leftist jihadi propaganda.
WHAT WAS KERALA’S RESPONSE TO THIS CAMPAIGN?
Jeevan Babu K is the Director-General of Education and the examination commissioner of the Kerala Board. He said that students appeared for their board exams during the crucial stage of the pandemic. So, the question papers were set in such a manner that it doesn’t increase the stress of students. They only focused on key areas while framing the question paper. On the other hand, the board doubled the number of questions so that students score maximum marks.
So, this year, around 502 Kerala students scored 100 percent marks on the board. The number was just 234 last year. Around 18510 students secured more than 90 percent marks and most of them were above 95 plus scorers only. The passing percentage in Kerala is 87.94 this year, 2.81 percent more than last year. The board said that other boards did even conduct exams, but the Kerala board conducted both theory and practical exams. Moreover, they conducted classes during the pandemic when other state boards did not have any classes of students. More than 70,000 students secured over 90 percent marks this year, the number was around 38000 in 2020.
WHAT DID DELHI UNIVERSITY SAY OVER THE MARKS JIHAD CAMPAIGN?
Vikas Gupta is the registrar of Delhi University. He said that DU has not done any kind of over-admission, nor they have done any discrimination against Kerala students. The admission process is the same as usual. Around 2,356 students from Kerala got DU admission this year. 31,000 students have got admission to the CBSE board. From Haryana Board, the number is 1,540, and 1,301 is from Rajasthan. Delhi University in a statement said that the varsity strongly condemns the falsity. On the other hand, DU Professor wants to change the system of admission otherwise the college would be occupied by ‘Marks Jihad’.
