A controversy has emerged after Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) rescinded the invitation given to a BJP leader to deliver a talk at the institute on Ambedkar Jayanti. Guru Prakash Paswan, a national spokesperson of the BJP who was invited to deliver a talk at the prestigious Delhi University college, said on Thursday, 14 April, that the withdrawal of the invitation was a symptom of "intolerance".
"I was invited by LSR college for the event on Ambedkar Jayanti but was informed yesterday that due to a protest by the students union group, the show has been cancelled. It's an epitome of intolerance," Paswan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Saying that it was unfortunate that a Dalit person had been stopped from speaking on Ambedkar Jayanti, Paswan stated:
"It shows the dictatorial and totalitarian way of thinking of such groups especially SFI (Students Federation of India) who are stopping people from speaking. They've lost their relevance on the ground."
The "Ambedkar Beyond the Constitution" talk had been called off after a huge outcry from the LSR student body, with many students opposing Paswan's invitation for the Ambedkar Jayanti event.
"Since we would like to refrain the atmosphere of the SC/ST Cell, especially LSR from becoming a political space instead of an academic one, it was in the best interest of the institution to cancel the event," a message from a student representative of the college read, as per a tweet by BJP leader Amit Malviya.
The message also cited the recent violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University and the communal disturbance in Karnataka as the reasons behind the cancellation of the talk.
"The intolerant ideological and political assertion of Communist sponsored student bodies, that permeates our academic institutions, is a bane. It obstructs free expression and assimilation of competing ideas. LSR now succumbs, cancels Guru Prakash Paswan's lecture under pressure," Malviya said, sharing a screenshot of the message.
'Urge Them To Remain Freethinking Citizens': Paswan About LSR Students
"I will continue to speak, I will continue to write and I will continue articulate the aspiration of my community, nobody can stop me from sharing my thoughts," Paswan said in a Facebook post, shortly after his talk was cancelled.
"My sincere regards to the students from LSR who had invited me to speak, those who stopped me from speaking, shut the voice of their peers too. I urge them not to be disheartened, I urge them to remain freethinking citizens," he further stated.
Sharing his statement on Twitter, Paswan quoted scholar Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak's famous essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" in his post.
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