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Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circles bloom across India

Written by : TNM

 If there has to be one example of shooting oneself in the foot while putting the opponent up on a pedestal, this has to be it.Thanks to controversy over the derecognition of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle in IIT-Madras, students in other campuses in the country have also started their own versions of it.Students of IIT Delhi have started an APSC. Their Facebook page describes it as a “IIT-D students initiative” and says the group is to “discuss about the social issues”. The page has close to 700 likes as this is being written, and has pictures of Ambedkar, Periyar and Karl Marx.  IIT Bombay too now has its own study circle, but one additional public figure features in its name. Students of the campus have started the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle, having included Marathi social reformer Jyotirao Phule.The group has its front-page picture posted with a quote from Ambedkar, “Hinduism is a veritable chamber of horror. It must die for caste to vanish.”The Facebook description of the APPSC says, “IITs turned out to be strongholds of superstition, conformism, prejudice & apathy; ruthless criticism of all that exists is the bitter pill that cures us.”  Meanwhile the students of IIT Kanpur have started a Facebook page to register their protest against the “ban” on APSC by IIT-M.And it isn’t just the IITs. Jadhavpur University has started its Ambedkar Periyar Society, and describes itself as a “society which seeks to investigate how caste oppression operates in conjunction with other categories like race, class and gender”.  Meanwhile, the APSC at IIT Madras has ramped up its demands. In a Facebook post, the APSC has demanded that they be given a permanent room for discussions, sufficient space for library, space in the IIT web domain to post notes on their activities, a "small" account to communicate with students and that allocated funds be distributed equally to all student bodies.Also Read: IIT Madras, the land of Vedic science and anti-caste capitalism

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