Mumbai: The Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences has been subjected to a flurry of phone calls after a report from the Mumbai Mirror stated that former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh could be joining the institute as Director next.
These rumours began circulating after Ramesh was spotted at the TISS Campus two weeks ago for a private meeting. This news, coupled with the fact that the current Director, Professor S Parasuraman has completed two tenures and is planning to step down, sparked the gossip that the Union Minister was a frontrunner for the position.
A follow up report by DNA mentions how Professor Parasuraman was flooded with calls from TISS alumni, political figures and the media, all asking for his opinion on the matter. Prof Parasuraman was quick in dismissing the matter stating that Jairam Ramesh has not applied for even a position as a guest faculty, nor has he been invited for any of the various lectures for which TISS invites guest speakers.
He had come to the institute to meet Prof Parasuraman as TISS wished to put Ramesh on the TISS Environmental Council.
There has been a history of controversial interactions between the students of TISS and Ramesh. In 2010, Ramesh was to give a talk at TISS, students of the institute planned to silently protest outside the venue, due to several reasons chief being the lack of action over the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984.
The director was able to defuse the situation by asking students to meet with Ramesh instead. The conversation (a full transcript is available here ) was an unfiltered one and left many students unsatisfied with the responses made by the then Minister of Environments and Forests.
Another controversial incident occurred in 2011, where Jairam Ramesh was invited as Chief Guest at the 71st convocation ceremony. According to reports , students, in protest of the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant, handed him Anti-Nuclear placards in exchange for their medals. But Jairam Ramesh was sporting with the student and pleased that the event didn’t become unruly.