The students of the Benaras Hindu University have been staging sit-in protests for the past week against the appointment of a 29-year-old Muslim professor. 

Feroz Khan was appointed on November 5 as an assistant professor in the literature department of the faculty that comes under Sanskrit Vidya Dharm Vigyan. 

The students argue that Muslims cannot be allowed to enter the department. The Indian Express has reported that Feroz himself has not entered the campus gate, as he fears there is a threat to his life. 

A PhD student from the campus told the national daily that a plaque installed by the BHU founder – Madan Mohan Malaviya reads that no other religion apart from Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhist are to be allowed to enter the department. 

After a week of protests, the agitated students on November 14 met the Vice-Chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar and the Head of Department (HOD) Umakant Chaturvedi demanding to revoke the appointment of the assistant professor. 

After the meeting, which lasted for more than two hours, the authorities stood firm on their decision of appointing Khan.

Professor Chaturvedi said that the writings on the plaque cannot be followed because the university now comes under the UGC and the authorities followed the UGC guidelines while appointing Khan. 

The authorities issued a statement which said that Khan’s appointment was a unanimous decision made by a selection committee under a transparent process. 

#BHU ACT is being followed in letter & spirit in ongoing selection process and all the selections are being made as per the guidelines of the Government of India and the UGC. – BHU’s official statement regarding an appointment in Faculty of SVDV. @VCofficeBHU pic.twitter.com/E6Qtg950Q4

— BHUPRO (@bhupro) November 14, 2019

According to The Print report, Khan is feeling insulted by the whole incident and that he would have never applied for the job if he had known things would turn out sour like this.

The digital-based news platform said that the agitated students called the appointment process as “conspiracy” and was done to hurt the sentiments of the founder. 

“A Muslim can’t teach us our dharma,” The Print quoted a PhD student saying. 

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