Jamia dropped my name from speaker's list: Shazia Ilmi;

BJP leader Shazia Ilmi today accused Jamia University of putting "pressure" on organisers of an event to drop her name from a panel of speakers for a seminar on triple talaq, a charge denied by the varsity.

According to Ilmi, she was invited by RSS supported Forum for Awareness of National Security (FANS) to speak at a seminar on "Triple Talaq" and the university had pressurised the organisers to change the subject to "Muslim's women's empowerment: Issues and challenges" and drop her name from the speaker's list.

The forum, which has RSS ideologue Indresh Kumar as its patron, confirmed the sequence of events even as Jamia Millia Islamia authorities rubbished the allegations.

"The event was not organised by the university or any of its department. The auditorium was rented out to the organisers and in such events the varsity has nothing to do with either the subject or choice of the speakers. It was not our prerogative," a Jamia spokesperson said, denying allegations of pressurising the organisers.

Programme convenor Shailesh Vats, however, said, "We had finalised the speakers and the subject but then we were advised by the university to make some changes saying the atmosphere in the universities is not conducive to have such a discussion."

Alleging that students had also gathered at the programme venue to protest her presence, Ilmi told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)