Ashoka University Didn’t Place Slightest Restrain On My Thoughts: Prof Who Quit Over Economist Sabyasachi Das Row

The Ashoka University professor Pulapre Balakrishnan has written a letter saying the University didn’t place the "slightest restraint" on his thoughts in class or when he wrote in the media and marched on the streets for rights.

Professor Balakrishnan had quit the university following a row over the resignation of economist Sabyasachi Das from the institution.

Balakrishnan, a full professor in the economics department who joined the private university in 2015, on Saturday wrote to Ashoka University Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee and board of trustees chairperson Pramath Raj Sinha explaining his reasons for his resignation.

He said he did so because he believed "there was a grave error of judgment in the response to the attention received by Das' paper (Democratic Backsliding in the World's Largest Democracy) on social media", reported PTI.

"Academic freedom was violated in the response, and it would be unconscionable for me to remain," he wrote in the letter, the report mentioned.

Das quit a fortnight after the varsity publicly distanced itself from his working paper that alleged electoral manipulation in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Balakrishnan joined Ashoka after working at Oxford University, the Indian Statistical Institute, The Indian Institute of Management in Kozhikode and the World Bank.

He said he would welcome the governing body's reported decision to invite Das to return to the post he had resigned from. If the news wasn't true, he said he would request the leadership to consider doing just that, it said.

"As for myself, I am moving on," he said as per the report. 

Author of several well-regarded books, including most recently “India's Economy from Nehru to Modi”, Balakrishnan said he has offered to stay and complete his teaching responsibilities for the semester.

"In any case, as I am not going to be here for much longer, I owe you both this letter," he said, the report said.