In August 2019, Prof Avijit Pathak and Prof Apoorvanand have written two poignant pieces on the government-sponsored maligning of JNU and the fall of the university, published in The Wire and the Indian Express, respectively. Taking the discourse forward, Forward Press managing editor Pramod Ranjan emphasizes the need for those fighting to save the university to identify with intellectuals from outside academia, socio-cultural workers and the battle for social justice. The writer argues In the name of autonomy of universities, a well of intellectual and material luxury has been dug from which only professors can drink. Let alone the general public, they have looked down on intellectuals who are in public life but don’t happen to be professors. They have kept the conferences and seminars funded by the government, research projects, foreign tours meant for intellectuals to represent India to the professors themselves.