NAAC Bribery Scandal: BJP-RSS Nexus Exposed in Academic Corruption – UGC Chairman Must Resign

Press Release  08. 02. 2025

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) Central Executive Committee strongly condemns the shocking NAAC bribery scam, which has exposed massive corruption under BJP rule in India’s higher education system. On January 26, 2024, while the nation was celebrating Republic Day, JNU professor Rajeev Sijariya was negotiating a bribe at his on-campus residence to manipulate the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection report for a private university. According to the CBI’s FIR, members of the NAAC team demanded ₹1.8 crore from Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation in Andhra Pradesh to ensure a favorable accreditation rating. After negotiations, the deal was closed for ₹28 lakh, with Sijariya pocketing a major share. His arrest by the CBI has now exposed the massive corruption that underpins NAAC accreditation, where institutions bribe officials to secure positive ratings. This scam is not an isolated case but a direct outcome of the corrupt ecosystem nurtured under BJP-RSS rule, where unqualified party loyalists are placed in top academic positions, turning institutions into centers of fraud and favoritism.

However, Sijariya is not just any professor caught in a bribery case—he is a longtime RSS-ABVP man, personally appointed and promoted by Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, the current UGC Chairman and former JNU Vice-Chancellor. Before his sudden rise in academia, Sijariya was a salesman for Kirloskar generators and later joined private business schools. In 2020, Mamidala appointed him as a faculty member in JNU, and by 2023, he had been elevated to the position of Dean under the current VC Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit. His rise was not based on academic merit but political patronage, as he had held senior positions in the ABVP, including being its president in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, in 2016. Mamidala not only ensured Sijariya’s promotion within JNU but also secured him positions in BHU’s court, AICTE’s CMAT advisory committee, NITs, IIEST Shibpur, and, most importantly, NAAC itself—the very institution he has now been caught corrupting. This case proves beyond doubt that RSS-ABVP has infiltrated educational institutions, not to improve them, but to convert them into centers of corruption and ideological control.

SFI demands the immediate resignation of Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, who as the head of NAAC and UGC, must take full responsibility for this scam. We also demand the arrest of all others involved in this bribery network, which has been operating unchecked under BJP-RSS rule. This is not just a case of one corrupt professor—it is a systematic scam that has compromised the credibility of India’s education system. If institutions can buy favorable accreditation ratings, it means students are being cheated, education standards are being manipulated, and public trust is being destroyed. The NAAC accreditation process must be immediately investigated, and all corrupt officials must be removed and punished.

SFI calls upon the entire student community and progressive forces across the country to unite and resist this saffronized corruption in academia. We cannot allow RSS-backed elements to degrade our universities into hubs of political favoritism, bribery, and fraud. The fight for a transparent, fair, and merit-based education system is a fight for the future of Indian students.

Released by

VP Sanu (President)

Mayukh Biswas (General Secretary)