The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration courted controversy after it cancelled BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s talk – titled 'Why Ram Mandir in Ayodhya?' – scheduled to be to be held in the varsity’s Koyna Hostel on 6 December.
Earlier, the JNU administration had decided to go ahead with another talk by Communist Party of India (Marxist) former general secretary Prakash Kara at the Sabarmati Mess at 9:30 pm on 6 December.
However, the JNU Dean of Students has now issued a circular cancelling all public lectures or talks on the theme of Ram Janmbhoomi and Babri Masjid. The circular said the decision was taken to "maintain communal harmony, and peace and stability in the campus”.
CNN-News18 quoted Swamy as saying: “Height of tolerance in JNU and now we know what the university's tolerance level is. They must have mounted pressure on VC and most VCs are spineless so they cancelled my talk in JNU. Possibly the Left-wing students didn't want to hear my arguments”.
The scheduled talk comes on the 25th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. On Tuesday 5 December, the Supreme Court deferred the next hearing in the Ayodhya dispute to 8 February 2018.
(This is a developing story and will be updated)
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