Left-leaning NGO slams MP government for varsity pull out of webinar

A Left-leaning NGO on Monday condemned the Madhya Pradesh police’s alleged attempts to prevent a central university in the state from hosting a webinar on the topic ‘cultural and linguistic hurdles in achieving scientific temper.’

“We believe that this event represents a twin attack on the scientific temper as well as on the autonomy of the academic institution,” a statement by Anhad said.

The statement came after Dr. Hari Singh Gour University in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh pulled out of a webinar organised by the anthropology department after the state police wrote to the vice-chancellor saying action could be taken “if religious and caste sentiments are hurt”.

According to reports from Madhya Pradesh, the ABVP unit at Sagar had written to the state police that some participants in the webinar were of “anti-national mentality and involved in such activities”.

The webinar was being conducted in collaboration with Montclair State University, New Jersey.

The statement, which Anhad claimed was signed by more than 1,000 individuals, said that they believed that the incident at the Gour University was not “isolated” as there had been attacks on academics in Ujjain, Bhopal and Mandsaur in the recent past.

“The atrocious argument that someone’s feelings will get hurt if ‘hurdles in achieving scientific temper’ are discussed by academicians and scholars is only a smoke screen to intimidate free speech and academic discourse,” the statement said.