Professor at Odisha's KIIT sacked for saying India shouldn't go to war against Pakistan on local news channel

A professor at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha’s Bhubaneshwar has been sacked after saying on a local television channel that India should not go to war with Pakistan. [caption id=“attachment_6170591” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Madhumita Ray. LinkedIn[/caption] Madhumita Ray, who taught at the private university’s School of Rural Management, appeared on a Kanak News discussion on 18 February, along with retired Indian Army Colonel Purna Chandra Patnaik, The Wire reported. She made the statement after the colonel said “everlasting peace can only be brought about by war”. “In response, I quoted Mahatma Gandhi, who had said that ‘an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind’. We are talking about a war to avenge 40 soldiers (who died in Pulwama), but this will just lead to more soldiers dying, both Indian and Pakistani. This is not going to help anybody,” she told The Wire. Ray’s remarks come in the wake of the hostilities between India and Pakistan, which began after the  Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terror group,  attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Speaking to The Indian Express, Ray said: “KIIT’s disciplinary committee said it received complaints about my remarks on the TV debate and asked me to resign. The committee members had not seen the episode. At the meeting, they questioned whether they can believe me.” When asked by the Odisha Sun Times about whether she wanted to take legal action against the varsity, Ray said they are powerful people, and she does not want to pursue the matter. “I feel what I said is right and stand by my words. War is not at all a solution.” The newspaper quoted KIIT director of public relations Sradhanjali Nayak as saying that Ray had “resigned citing personal reasons, as per the information received by our human resources division”. Meanwhile, the episode of Manoranjan Mishra Live is not available on the website of Kanak News anymore, The Wire reported. When questioned about it, the editor of the channel, who was anchoring the debate, Manoranjan Mishra, said the channel received a lot of “negative feedback” and has not yet made a decision on putting out the episode. Follow LIVE updates on the ongoing India-Pakistan tensions