I was misquoted, was only paraphrasing Ambedkar’s views: JNU VC on ‘caste of gods’ remark

New Delhi: After her no god is upper caste remark stoked controversy, JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Wednesday defended her comments as an academic exercise and said she was misquoted in her comments.
She also said she is an academic first and people should get angry with BR Ambedkar for it was he who she was paraphrasing.
“I was asked to speak on BR Ambedkar’s views on gender justice. I was paraphrasing BR Ambedkar. You can see his writings. Why should people get angry with me? They should get angry with BR Ambedkar. Why am I being pulled into it,” she told PTI.
Also Read Lord Shiva may be from SC or ST as no Brahmin sits in crematorium: JNU VC Delivering the Dr B R Ambedkar Lecture Series titled ‘Dr B R Ambedkar’s Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code’, Pandit had on Monday said “anthropologically” gods do not belong to the upper caste and that even Lord Shiva could be from scheduled caste or tribe.
“I am an academic first, a professor. Why is an academic lecture being politicised? I am really scared to give any lecture in Delhi. Everything is misquoted. I am not an original thinker, I am a professor. I feel so hurt, why are people politicising it?” she asked.
During the lecture, the VC had also said the “status of shudras given to women in Manusmriti” makes it extraordinarily regressive.