Director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Professor Govindan Rangarajan.
Credits: DH Photo
Bengaluru: More than 1,600 people from various universities across India and overseas have written to the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, asking it to cancel an India-Israel Business Meet scheduled for Monday.
The meet has been organised by Think India, Indian Chamber of International Business and Mysore Lancers Heritage Foundation at the IISc’s JN Tata Auditorium.
A letter addressed to IISC Director Prof Govindan Rangarajan has called the institute’s participation in the business meet “unconscionable” and highlights that “such cooperation would amount to direct support for Israel’s genocide in Palestine and its aggressive actions against its neighbours”.
Shairik Sengupta, a research scholar from IISc, said that the decision to conduct the event on the campus was not brought to the attention of students in advance and they were notified of it only after the posters were released.
“This event directly or indirectly legitimises the brutal act of Israel over the people of Gaza in Palestine. We do not want our institute to be a platform where genocide and colonial expansion is legitimised,” he told DH.
The petition to the IISc director highlights the scale of violence unleashed by Israel on Palestinians.
“Israel has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children. A report in the Lancet suggested that the true casualties might be four times higher, which would amount to about 10% of Gaza’s total population. Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza. It has also destroyed healthcare facilities, leading to the resurgence of diseases such as polio,” notes the letter.
The summit aims to track bilateral trade, defence and cybersecurity, startup and venture capital and sustainable energy and water technology.