The Kerala University has sought an explanation from PP Ajayakumar, guide of Chintha Jerome, chairperson of  Kerala State Youth Commission, regarding  errors in her Ph D thesis submitted two years ago.

The move comes following Governor Arif Muhammad Khan, who is also the chancellor of the university, seeking a report from the vice chancellor on the controversy regarding Chintha’s Ph D thesis that contained factual errors.

Governor Khan last week forwarded the complaint received from the Save University Campaign Committee regarding Chinta’s thesis to the vice chancellor  and has sought a report.

In its complaint, the Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC) called for re-examination of the Ph.D degree by an expert committee. It also demanded action against Chitha Jerome’s guide and former Pro-Vice-Chancellor PP Ajayakumar of the university  and his removal as Director of the UGC-Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC)

Chintha was awarded a Ph D in English Literature from the Kerala University in 2021 for her dissertation titled ‘The ideological foundation of Malayalam commercial cinema in neoliberal times’.

One of the lines in the thesis submitted by her states that the Malayalam poem titled ‘Vazhakkula’ was penned by Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon, while it was originally written by poet Changampuzha Krishna Pillai

‘Vazhakkula’ is a quite well-known poem in Malayalam because it deals with inequalities faced by lower caste people, who are exploited by the landlords

RS Sasikumar, chairman of SUCC, and convener M Shajarkhan, in their complaint, alleged that the error showed the candidate has a lack of knowledge.

They also accused Chintha of negligence. Furthermore, it has been alleged that parts of her thesis were directly copied from Bodhi Commons, an internet portal.

Responding to the allegations,Chintha said  the mistake in her thesis was incidental.

“It had no direct bearing on the topic of my research or its findings. ‘Vazhakkula’ was mentioned as a contextual example. But there was a mistake, a human error. I thank everyone who pointed it out. This was made into a huge issue and I was personally attacked. Some even questioned my personality as a woman,”  she told media persons the other day .

Chintha also  denied allegations of plagiarism saying she did not copy even a sentence from any work .She also said that the error  will be corrected when the dissertation is published as a book

Chintha Jerome has served in leadership positions in the SFI , the Students’ wing of the CPI-M  and the DYFI, the youth wing of the party.