Delhi University has cancelled a lecture that faculty member and RJD parliamentarian Manoj Jha, a trenchant critic of the Narendra Modi government and Hindutva politics, was scheduled to deliver to young teachers.
Jha has been associated with the university for 30 years.
On August 18, the Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education (CPDHE) at DU had invited Jha, a senior faculty member with the university’s department of social work, as a resource person (subject expert) for an online refresher course on social work and the social sciences. He was requested to speak on “Political social work: New opportunity for practice” on September 4 between 10am and 11.30am.
However, Jha received a letter on Wednesday from CPDHE director Geeta Singh informing him that “due to some unavoidable circumstances your lecture has been cancelled. Inconvenience caused is regretted”.
The university’s action has prompted Jha and the newly formed umbrella teachers’ body, the Democratic United Teachers’ Alliance, to highlight how the varsity administration is being driven by narrow considerations and intolerance. The teachers’ alliance is an association of the INDIA coalition parties.
“What worries me is that my own institution, where I take regular classes, supervise PhD students, and where I have been working for the last 30 years is doing this with me. I speak in Parliament and in public places and write in newspapers. Universities are meant to discuss alternative ideas and alternative philosophical paradigms. If you narrow down the idea of the university, the whole purpose of the institution will be defeated. How can India become a Vishwaguru with such myopic views?” Jha said.
He said this was the second time in six years that such a thing had happened to him. In 2021, two DU colleges had invited him to speak on democracy at an event, but they cancelled the invitation at the last moment saying the character of the programme had changed, Jha said.
“I feel that some people, particularly those with a Right-wing ideology, may be uncomfortable with my position on constitutional values like justice, equality, human rights and freedom,” Jha said.
He said he would write to the Prime Minister and the education minister about DU cancelling his lecture. “If they are not supporting it, these kinds of activities should end. The university cannot be allowed to deteriorate like this,” Jha said.
In a statement, Nandita Narain, convener of the coordination committee of the Democratic United Teachers’ Alliance, said the cancellation of the invitation to Jha amounted to complete disregard for academia.
“It is one more instance of (the) institutionalisation of an intolerant and bigoted culture in the University of Delhi. Such institutionalisation allows the director of the CPDHE to excessively pack orientation/ refresher/ development programmes for teachers with resource persons and chief guests holding the ideological views of the ruling dispensation while excluding all contrarian views,” she said.
“It is a disgrace for an eminent institution and strikes at the very idea of a university,” Narain’s statement added.
The Telegraph sent an email to DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh with a copy to the CPDHE director to understand the reasons for cancelling the invitation and their perspective on the critical comments about shrinking academic space on campus. Their response is awaited.
