Post the violence in Ramjas college between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and ultra left students’ groups over holding a seminar considered anti-Indian by the right-wing group, principals from across Delhi University (DU) colleges have asked organisers of seminars to ensure that their speakers’ lists do not have “unwanted” elements from the left and ultra left camp, claim sources. Apparently, the principals have also started scrutinising all applications before giving permission to any such events.
Sources told The Sunday Guardian that recently, the political science department of Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College was denied permission to hold a seminar on “resistance and democracy” as the speakers’ list contained “unwanted” names and the college principal thought that holding such an event would give rise to conflict.
When The Sunday Guardian contacted LSR principal Suman Sharma, she refused to comment on the matter. An LSR student claimed “Seminars with Kamla Bhasin, Arundhati Roy and Dilip Simeon had to be cancelled.” The claim could not be verified by this newspaper. Violent clashes erupted between two students’ groups outside Ramjas College on 22 February, a day after the ABVP forced the suspension of a conference “Cultures of Protest” where Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) controversial and ultra left student Umar Khalid was scheduled to speak. The SGTB Khalsa College had also postponed a street-play competition till peace and normalcy returned to DU colleges allegedly because the ABVP-led Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) told the college principal that security for the event “could not be guaranteed” if the scripts had any “anti-national content”. However, Principal Jaswinder Singh denied taking the decision under any pressure.
When asked, history professor Dilip Simeon said: “The violence in the colleges of DU is unfortunate. Free thinking, debate and discussions are the integral part of the university system and any threats on this are disastrous.”
Apoorvanand, a Hindi professor teaching at DU, alleged, “College principals are scrutinising the content of any proposed events in terms of line drawn by the ABVP.”
“ABVP stifles conversations on Kashmir and caste. Earlier, Rajshree Ranawat from the English Department of Jai Narain Vyas University in Jodhpur was suspended just for inviting JNU professor Nivedita Menon (known for her controversial views) to speak at a symposium,” he added.
Professor Abha Dev Habib of DU told The Sunday Guardian, “There have been several instances of protests against certain events or simply because of the presence of academics, especially those from JNU, in other universities. The ABVP has been directly or indirectly involved in the majority of these incidents.” She also claimed that the police did not take any action against ABVP.
Shreerang Kulkarni, national media head of ABVP dismissed all such charges as a “plot by the leftists to defame a nationalist students’ organisation”.
“Why don’t they (Left linked students groups) protest on subjects like triple talaq?” Kulkarni asked. “Did you hear a single voice against Jamia Millia Islamia University’s administration when they stopped Shazia Ilmi from attending seminar on triple talaq?” he added.
Noted professor, Makarand R. Paranjape of JNU described the freedom of speech debate by the left-“liberals” as selective. He said, “Shazia Ilmi was blocked from speaking on triple talaq. Will the left-“liberals” speak against it?” A.K. Bhagi, of the National Democratic Teachers Front (NDTF), said, “The left talks about selective freedom of speech, when it should be debated in totality. There is no atmosphere of fear in our universities.”
Rajesh Jha, who represents the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), said: “The patriotism debate on campus has been polarised, with no space for objectivity or neutral voices.”