new delhi
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One of India’s most prestigious universities has been accused of violating academic freedom by canceling a seminar on democracy on the same day it directed faculty to promote a summit on cow welfare.
Cows are revered as sacred by many Hindus, but critics say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is using India’s devotion to cows as a political tool to advance its Hindu nationalist agenda.
Professors and students at Delhi University, long seen as a bulwark of free speech in the country, say the directive is another example of the pressure on educational institutions by the Modi government, which promotes Hinduism in a democracy based on secular values.
“The promotion of this dubious event in tandem with the suppression of critical social science seminars reveals a clear bias against the scientific temperament,” the Democratic Teachers Front, an organization that defends the rights and interests of students and teachers, said in a statement.
The canceled seminar was titled “Land, Property and Democratic Rights” and was part of a lecture series that has been running at Delhi University for 60 years.
Notification of the government’s decision to cancel the Oct. 31 event came on the same day as university president Balram Pani directed principals to encourage students and faculty to participate in the National Gordhan (Cow Herd) Summit, according to a copy of the email seen by CNN.
The summit was advertised by organizers on its website as a “groundbreaking event dedicated to cow welfare.”
Pani told local news outlet Times Now that the university supports rather than promotes the cow summit.
“If someone is working for the benefit of the country, supporting economic growth, improving the environment, etc., why shouldn’t we support them?” Pani said, according to the newspaper.
“But we are not promoting this event,” the dean added. “And if any event is contrary to the national interest, we will not support it under any circumstances.”
CNN has reached out to Pani and Delhi University’s registrar for further comment.
This off-campus event is organized by the National Godhan (Cow Herd) Organization, a government-affiliated NGO, and will run until November 10th. The group describes itself as “an idealistic, non-violent movement dedicated to promoting cow welfare and cow-based sustainable innovation.”
In a statement, the Democratic Teachers’ Front said the government’s decision to support the Cow Summit over the seminar on democracy was a “deliberate effort to hollow out the legacy of India’s post-1947 achievements in both the natural and social sciences”, referring to the end of British rule in India.
Nandini Sundar, a sociology professor and convener of the canceled seminar, accused the government of deliberate ideological repression.
“(They) are trying to destroy public universities and critical thought and only allow Hindutva ideology,” Sundar told CNN.
Hindutva is a political ideology that seeks to define India’s national identity based on shared Hindu culture and history. Critics argue that this is a vision that inherently excludes India’s diverse minority communities.
In the last census in 2011, about 80% of the country’s population was recorded as Hindu, and about 14% was listed as Muslim, India’s largest minority. There are also many followers of other faiths, including Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and other local religions.
Namita Wahi, a senior researcher at the Center for Policy Research, was booked as a speaker for the seminar. She is also the founding director of the Land Rights Initiative and has long criticized the Modi government for using land laws to acquire land for various projects in violation of local land rights.
Sundar said in a statement that no reason was initially given for the cancellation, and that “one can only assume that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-led government is afraid of a debate over land and democratic rights.”
Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has its ideological roots in the RSS, a 100-year-old right-wing paramilitary group that advocates Hindu supremacy in India. The group has repeatedly said it does not discriminate against minorities.
Local media reported that the registrar said the seminar was canceled because prior permission was not obtained.
“For the past 60 years, no prior permission has been required,” Sander said in a statement. When she checked with other departments, she said, “No one gets prior approval for each speaker in a regular seminar series.”
Aryan Maan, a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student organization affiliated with the RSS, and president of the Delhi University Students’ Union, said organizations like the RSS have no influence over the university’s operations and departments function independently.
CNN reached out to RSS but did not receive a response.
Sander subsequently resigned from his post as seminar convenor, a position he held for two years, following the cancellation.
Institutions like Delhi University have long been celebrated as bastions of free speech and secular thought.
They were at the heart of the student movement in the struggle for independence from British rule, and later in the 1970s against the authoritarian Emergency imposed by the then ruling Indian National Congress party.
More recently, in 2019, these campuses became the epicenter of nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The law has been controversial, with critics saying it discriminates against Muslims by making faith a criterion for citizenship.
“Public universities are spaces where people can have free discussions and, in theory, are accessible to people of all classes and castes,” Sundar said. “Universities have played a vital role in creating social mobility and free inquiry in a way that private universities never could.”
But these institutions have been branded by many Modi supporters as hotbeds of “anti-national” activity, and students and professors feel they are bearing the brunt of it.
Appointments to administrative positions within public universities are subject to government approval. This creates barriers to teaching and academic research output, Sander said.
A doctoral scholar at the University of Delhi told CNN that he wanted to research the rise of right-wing governments, but was forced to change his subject to secure admission to the university.
“Before, you could at least protest…but now the police crackdown on student movements is swift and immediate,” said the postdoc, who requested anonymity for fear of backlash from the university.
“Your ability to think critically and have rational debate is diminished because they are holding your degree to ransom. They have taken away our academic freedom,” the doctoral scholar said.
Meanwhile, the Indian Academic Freedom Network, which documents academic freedom violations at Indian universities, said universities have hosted more than 50 events and lectures promoting Hindutva, or Bharatiya Janata Party, policies in the past year.
The network also documented dozens of cases of alleged interference with syllabuses, including banning books deemed critical of the government and refusing permission or blocking seminars on topics such as democracy and freedom of expression.
However, Maan, who is president of the Delhi University Students’ Union and a member of a student organization affiliated with the RSS, said the RSS was having a positive impact on the university space rather than restricting freedom of speech.
“Academic freedom has expanded and the number of subjects has increased,” he said, citing the recently established Center for Hindu Studies as an example of the university’s expanding reach.
CNN has reached out to the federal and Delhi education ministers for comment.
Elevating the cow from a religious symbol to an expression of national pride is a cornerstone of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda.
When Mr. Modi was elected with an overwhelming majority in 2014, his party’s manifesto promised to protect animals as part of preserving India’s cultural heritage, fulfilling a decades-long campaign by the RSS to strengthen laws against cow slaughter.
While some anti-genocide laws have existed for some time, stricter laws have been enacted in several states during the BJP’s tenure. This legal crackdown has been accompanied by an increase in vigilante violence against people, especially Muslims accused of disrespecting revered cows.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project’s 2021 report found that right-wing Hindu nationalist groups like the RSS are “active in attacking minorities.”
Delhi University’s Sundar called the curtailment of academic freedom “tragic”.
“Many great public universities have already been destroyed, and those that remain will be abolished as well.”
