The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Ashoka University vice-chancellor Somak Raychaudhury on Monday said that the university had accepted the resignation of Sabyasachi Das, an assistant professor of economics at Ashoka University. Das’s recent paper on the 2019 election results, and possible electoral manipulation, had set off a political storm.
The Wire had first reported on Sunday that Das has submitted his resignation. Since then, several academics have questioned the level of academic freedom at Ashoka University, given that the faculty member resigned so soon after the right-wing backlash around his paper.
Confirming that the university had accepted the resignation, Raychaudhury also told The Hindu that faculty members at the varsity were free to carry out research as they wished. “At Ashoka University, members of the faculty have the freedom to teach and carry out research in the areas they choose. The university affords its faculty and students the most enabling environment for academic freedom at an institution of higher education,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
“This academic freedom also applied to Mr. Das,” he added.
Das has been in the news for a paper he wrote alleging the possibility of electoral ‘manipulation’ in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where the incumbent BJP rode back to power with a greater margin than in 2014.
While Das stressed that the methods and impact he looked at in his July 25, 2023 paper – ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy’ – were confined to just 11 seats, his study generated spirited commentary on social media. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders also attacked the scholar’s findings.
On August 1, matters heated up when Ashoka University issued a statement distancing itself from Das’s paper, saying it was dismayed by the speculation and debate it had generated.
On Sunday, when The Wire asked a faculty member if Das had resigned of his own accord, they said, “You know how this is always a grey area. One is pushed to a point where the only way one can save one’s dignity is by resigning.” “We know that a lot went on behind closed doors” before Das put in his papers, a second Ashoka academic said.