Following protest, Reliance Industries denies Nita Ambani's appointment at BHU
Reports of Nita Ambani being invited as a visiting lecturer at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) are fake and she has not received any invitation from the university, a Reliance Industries Limited spokesperson said on Wednesday. The clarification came after many students of the University protested against the reported move to appoint Ambani as a visiting faculty there. Here are more details on this.
'She has not received an invitation from BHU'
"Reports that Nita Ambani will be a visiting lecturer at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) are fake. She has not received an invitation from BHU," a Reliance spokesperson said on Wednesday, according to news agency ANI.
A proposal was sent to Ambani by BHU, reports claimed
Earlier, media reports had suggested that BHU's Social Sciences Faculty had sent a proposal to Reliance Foundation, asking Ambani to be a visiting faculty at their Women Study Center. "Ambani is a woman entrepreneur. If she joins our center, the women of Purvanchal will get the benefit of her experience," Prof. Nidhi Sharma, coordinator of the Center for Women's Studies and Development, had said.
'Reliance has done lot of work for women empowerment'
"Following the BHU tradition of involving philanthropic industrialists, we sent a letter to the Reliance Foundation asking Nita Ambani to join the Women Study Center as a visiting professor so that we can benefit from her experience," said Kaushal Kishore Mishra, Dean of Social Sciences Faculty. "We did this because Reliance Foundation has done a lot of work in the field of women empowerment."
Students protested outside V-C's residence against the move
However, after the reports emerged, some 40 students of the University staged a protest outside the residence of Vice-Chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar, opposing the said move. Students reportedly said the purported appointment would set a "wrong example." Research scholar Shubham Tiwari, one of the protesting students, said, "Being the wife of a rich person is not an achievement and these people cannot be our icons."
'Invite icons like Bachendri Pal, Mary Kom'
"We are setting up a wrong example...If you talk about women empowerment, then invite icons like Arunima Sinha, Bachendri Pal, Mary Kom, or Kiran Bedi (sic)," Tiwari said. According to him, V-C Bhatnagar told students that he had no information about the proposal, TIE reported.
Nita Ambani is the founder of Reliance Foundation
Nita Ambani, 57, is the wife of Mukesh Ambani, the chairperson and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited. He is the richest person in India and one of the wealthiest around the world. Nita Ambani works as the non-executive director of RIL and is the founder of the non-profit organization Reliance Foundation and the Dhirubhai Ambani International School.
