
Sat Oct 04 20:04:01 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a summary of the provided text, followed by a news article rewrite.
**Summary:**
Delhi University (DU) students and faculty are protesting after the university’s computer center emailed them a video link of Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh’s speech. In the speech, Singh allegedly compared the student-led Pinjra Tod movement, which advocated against discriminatory hostel rules, to “Urban Naxalism.” Students and teachers criticize the speech and the university’s decision to distribute it, viewing it as an attack on student activism and academic freedom, and indicative of political influence within the university. The university has not responded to requests for comment.
**News Article:**
**Delhi University VC’s “Urban Naxalism” Claim Sparks Student Outrage**
*New Delhi, October 5, 2025* — A wave of discontent is sweeping through Delhi University (DU) after students received an email from the university’s computer center containing a video link of Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh’s recent address. In the speech, Singh is alleged to have equated the Pinjra Tod movement, a student-led initiative advocating for the removal of discriminatory hostel rules, with “Urban Naxalism.”
The video, titled ‘Naxal Mukt Bharat: why campuses are the Targets?’, features Singh’s remarks made at an event organized by a think tank linked to the BJP on September 28th, attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Singh stated: “They [Pinjra Tod activists] said this is a fight for freedom against parents, against the university… This is also a form of Urban Naxalism. It needs to be eradicated just as much.” He further linked the movement’s founders to arrests under the UAPA in 2020.
Students and faculty members have voiced strong objections to both the content of the speech and the university’s decision to disseminate it. Anjali, a DU student and member of the All India Students’ Association, denounced the email as indicative of “the larger saffronisation of the university” and announced plans for protests.
Abha Dev Habib, Associate Professor at Miranda House, whose students participated in Pinjra Tod, described the V-C’s speech reflects the “loss of DU’s autonomy” and that Pinjra Tod was a celebrated movement. Other faculty members, like Maya John of Jesus and Mary College, expressed alarm at the Vice-Chancellor’s “dismissive attitude” towards women hostellers’ concerns.
Rajesh Kumar Jha, a faculty member at Rajdhani College and member of the Aam Aadmi Party’s teachers’ wing, emphasized the importance of universities as “free space for debating and nourishing diversity of ideas, and for freedom of expression,” urging DU to uphold these principles.
As of press time, Delhi University has not responded to requests for comment regarding the email or the Vice-Chancellor’s speech. The controversy highlights growing tensions over academic freedom and political influence within the institution.