On Saturday, the varsity’s law faculty cancelled another seminar. Following the cancellation, tempers ran high with charges of “intolerance” being hurled at the organisers.
Seminar continues to be a bad word. Earlier, Ramjas college had witnessed tensions as an invite had been issued to JNU student Umar Khalid to speak at a seminar on campus. The invite, later withdrawn, had led to violence between student groups — the All India Students Association (AISA) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Feb 23. And on Saturday, a seminar was again in the news, when student organisers alleged authorities at Delhi University’s Law Faculty had prevented their event from happening.
On Saturday, the varsity’s law faculty cancelled another seminar. Following the cancellation, tempers ran high with charges of “intolerance” being hurled at the organisers. “This is another example of intolerance at Delhi University,” said Mohammad Sohail, a student union member and one of the organisers. Ironically, the seminar was entitled ‘Freedom of speech under Constitution of India’.
Organisers of the seminar claimed that it was cancelled because the university had a problem with the speakers. “Initially, the dean of the faculty, Vaid Kumari, had an issue with the list of speakers that included BJP’s Subramanian Swamy and Cabinet Minister Captain Abhimanyu. But she did not allow us to hold the seminar even after we changed the list,” he added.
Kumari denied the allegations. “They also declared the dean as keynote speaker against my refusal to speak on the topic,” Kumari added. She also alleged that some students were creating disturbance by disrupting an ongoing exhibition at the Law Faculty on Saturday.
On Saturday, Swaraj India’s Yogendra Yadav alleged that the authorities of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC) had abruptly postponed a programme he was scheduled to address.
“Another DU college chickens out! I was to speak on the ‘meaning of significance of dissent’ at DCAC Youth meet tomorrow. Received an email last night that it has been postponed,” Yadav tweeted.
College principal Rajiv Chopra, however, said that postponement of the event had nothing to do with the speaker. “I had a word with Mr. Yadav and told him we could not hold the event on this weekend as we already have so many events lined up. We also informed the students’ body that the event will be held in March end,” he said.
On February 24, SGTB Khalsa College called off a theatre festival after receiving alleged threats from Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). Saikat Ghosh, theatre convener of Khalsa college, alleged that ABVP objected to some of the plays “which went against their idea of exclusivist hyper-nationalism.”
On March 1, Sri Venkateswara College postponed all events scheduled for March. The debate of “intolerance” and freedom of speech is not limited to DU. Similar incidents of cancellation and postponement of events were reported from other varsities as well. On February 23, Ambedkar University postponed an event organised to mark the anniversary of the Kunan Poshpora mass rape in Kashmir of 1991.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Wednesday, BJP leader Shazia Ilmi alleged that authorities at Jamia Milia Islamia University had barred her from speaking on “triple talaq” during an event organised by the RSS-backed Forum for Awareness of National Security at the campus. The varsity, however, denied the allegation.
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