Professors, scholars canvass for Narendra Modi govt 2.0

As the 2019 general election approaches, a group of like-minded professors and research scholars from across the nation – having "nationalistic" thinking – have launched an innovative national outreach campaign called 'Academics4NaMo' to canvass for bringing back the Narendra Modi government to power.

Academics4NaMo will carry out the outreach programme through digital platforms, series of meetings, seminars, conferences, public discourses and workshops – though out the electoral process – will explain to the people about the policy initiatives of the Modi government in the last five years and why it is "necessary" to bring back the ruling dispensation again.

"In this election Prime Minister Modi is the agenda. This is not to dispute that under Modi's decisive leadership, India has made giant strides in all spheres, ranging from economy to foreign policy. Academics4NaMo firmly believes that to continue the momentum of growth and development of the nation, a Modi government 2.0 is a necessity," said Swadesh Singh, Assistant Professor of Delhi University, who is one of the conveners of the project.

"The thought leaders from the world of academics and research – who have areas of influence – will filter down the message," he said.

Academics4NaMo will hold a national workshop on March 14 in Delhi in which 300 select delegates from across the country will participate, sources said adding that the workshop will assign task to the members. The members will hit the ground from March 20, sources said.

According to sources, several professors of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), including varsity's registrar Prof Pramod Kumar, Prof Sudheer Pratap Singh of Centre for Indian Languages and Dr Vandana Mishra of Centre for Comparative Politics & Political Theory; Delhi University professors like Prof Shri Prakash, Prof Tarun Kumar Garg, Prof Manan Dwivedi of Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), Delhi and Dr Shantesh Singh of Kuala Lumpur based United Nations University are part of the campaign.

Within days since the campaign was launched on March 5 in Delhi, the membership of Academics4NaMo has reached 2000 and counting. Several associate professors and assistant professors from as many as 20 affiliated colleges of Delhi University have joined the campaign, sources said.

A number of professors and research scholars of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Lucknow University, Banaras Hindu University, Patna University, Central University of South Bihar, Indraprastha University, Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) have already joined the campaign, sources said. Delhi-based think tanks like Centre for Policy Research and Governance and Institute for Policy Research are also part of the campaign.

To begin with the campaign is getting a "good response" in 20 cities across the country, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Guwahati, Jaipur and Jammu, sources in know of the development informed.