Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), a premier research institute's Hyderabad division, came under severe criticism. This, after screenshots of a dissertation by a clearly separatist MA student, openly called Kashmir as "Indian Occupied" and painted the Indian Army in bad light started circulating on social media sites over the weekend.
The dissertation titled "Engendering Conflict: Understanding the Impact of Militarization, Conflict and Pandemic-induced Lockdown on Domestic Violence in India Occupied Kashmir" is ostensibly written by a far-left student named A. Kundu.
In what appears to be a page of the dissertation titled 'Rationale', the research scholar says that the "conflict prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir and more precisely in Kashmir valley" is a result of the forceful occupation that India did on October 27, 1947".
"The Kashmiris have been put through tortures, disappearances, into mass graves, and so on. This has gone to such a great extent that one may lose faith in humanity seeing the inhumanity of the occupation," the images of the page being circulated on social media reads.
Several social media users demanded strict action against the far-left and separatist student, her research guide, and the institute. Some of them went on to the extent of demanding a sedition case against them. Many also called for immediate "defunding" of the institute, which appears to be clearly promoting "anti-state" agenda.
Kanchan Gupta, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting wrote, "Is Bombay House comfortable lending name of Tatas to @TISSpeak which is now an anti-#India radical literature factory promoting hate and bigotry? Does Sir Dorabji Tata Trust subscribe to the view that #India is an 'occupation force' in Kashmir plus more?"
TISS responds
Under heavy pressure, TISS issued a statement, distancing itself from the research and said that "necessary action" has been initiated. "The institute does not endorse the title. Necessary action has been initiated for fact-finding," TISS said.
Continuing their attack on the institute which they said has become an "anti-India radical literature factory promoting hate and bigotry", some activists dug deeper and came up with more screenshots of the other research studies by other far-left scholars of the institute.
TISS studies romanticise and justify violence & Jihad in Kashmir valley. Using state funding to peddle anti-state narrative. Is academic freedom all about peddling a particular agenda? Where are other POVs? TISS must make public all its studies for public scrutiny. @HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/LlwJDjaPP8
— Abhinav Prakash (@Abhina_Prakash) June 21, 2021
Some of the screenshots of what they called the studies by TISS scholars feature phrases like "Study of Military Occupation of Kashmir", "Violence as Form of Resistance: A Study of Post 1989 Self Determination Movement in India-Controlled Kashmir", and "Poetry of Resistance: A Study of Violence and Azadi in Kashmir".
