Opposition parties corner BJP over diluting Panjab University’s senate and syndicate

Opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress, and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), on Saturday (November 1, 2025) cornered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government on its decision to dissolve the senate and the syndicate of the Panjab University.

The move by the Centre trampled on Punjab’s hard-earned autonomy, academic freedom, and Constitutional rights, State Education Minister and AAP leader Harjot Singh Bains said. “It is a blatant assault on the very soul of Punjab,” he added.

Describing the move not as an administrative reform but as “an act of occupation”, Mr. Bains alleged there was a dangerous design behind the decision to centralise control, crush Punjab’s distinct voice, and systematically rewrite the principles of federalism enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

The SAD urged the Vice-President of India and Panjab University’s ex-officio Chancellor C.P. Radhakrishnan to withdraw the notification. In her letter to the varsity’s Chancellor, Bathinda Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, appealed to Mr. Radhakrishnan to not change the democratic character of the university, and hold elections to its syndicate.

The notification had virtually made the syndicate and senate of the Panjab University a rubber stamp of the Central government, Ms. Badal said. The decision had caused consternation among Punjabis who felt the Panjab University, which was first established in Lahore in 1882, was part of their shared heritage, she said.

The proposal was an “attempt to saffronise a historic institution like Panjab University”, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said.

“Scrapping the senate and the syndicate of the Panjab University and replacing these with nominated members is a blatantly crude attempt by the BJP and the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] to hijack a historic institution of the country,” Mr. Warring said in a statement.