November 7th 2023.
Mumbai was abuzz with news on Tuesday as the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay cancelled a lecture by acclaimed writer and academician Achin Vanaik. The lecture, titled ‘Israel-Palestine: The Historical Context’, was organised by the institute’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. It had been scheduled for the evening, but the organisers sent an email to the students announcing its cancellation due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’.
Achin Vanaik is a former professor of international relations at the University of Delhi and an associate at the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute. He has written multiple books, and is an advocate for nuclear disarmament and a proponent of making Israel comply with the international law.
The lecture was already postponed by a day, but its presence had drawn the ire of some social media users. Clips from the author’s lecture at the OP Jindal Global University in Haryana the week before had been shared on social media, and this had prompted criticism from some quarters. One user posted, “Every university has turned into left-marxist producer. If not sanitised today, we can’t complain about what they do tomorrow after coming out of colleges.”
IIT Bombay has yet to comment on the matter. However, this incident has caused many to question the institute’s actions and the potential implications for freedom of speech.
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