After protest, Delhi school cancels JNU professor’s talk on pluralism at Independence Day event
NEW DELHI: Hours before Jawaharlal Nehru University professor emerita Zoya Hasan was to address students as the chief guest at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya’s annual Independence Day function, two school security personnel reportedly arrived at her doorstep to inform her that her address had been cancelled, citing a “threat” to her and the students.Hasan told TOI she had been invited by the school principal a month in advance and was scheduled to hoist the national flag and address students and parents at 10am on ‘Why pluralism matters’.Parents associated with the school said protesters, whom they identified as members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), had gathered at the school gate in opposition to the event.
VHP denied its members were involved in the protest but also said it welcomed the event’s cancellation.Parents associated with the school said the cancellation was unprecedented. The function continued with the president of Gujarat Education Society, which manages the school, stepping in Hasan’s place and distributing the awards, they said.Hasan said, “This morning, just as I was to leave for the school around 9.30am, two men arrived at my doorstep. The school had arranged a pickup for me and the history teacher was supposed to come get me. Instead, two men arrived. One of the men introduced himself as the head of security of the school and said there was a threat to me and a larger group of students, and, hence, the address had to be cancelled. They were very apologetic about it. It is obvious why it got cancelled.”A parent said, “When we got to know that her address had been cancelled, it came as a real shock. The administration said police pressured them to cancel as there was a threat from the protesting people.” The parent added, “There were a handful of people who were gathered outside the gate. Delhi Police could have easily removed the protesters, but they pressured the school to cancel the address.” Police, however, said they had not stopped anyone from speaking and had no role in the matter. They had received information about the incident and had only gone there to check on it.Economist Jayati Ghosh wrote on X, “How scared is this govt? Eminent scholar prof Zoya Hasan has just been prevented from speaking on ‘Pluralism’ at the I-Day function of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya by Delhi Police… A lecture to schoolchildren on pluralism by one of our most eminent social scientists is too much for our current leaders to handle?” Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, an artists’ collective and cultural organisation, also condemned the cancellation.VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal wrote on X: “It is not appropriate for a prestigious school in the capital, named after Sardar Patel ji and inspired by him, to invite as the chief guest a person who has herself insulted our Iron Man. We are pleased that the school administration, taking cognizance of the matter, has barred such a person from its programme, thereby protecting the students’ minds from any new infection... It is in the interest of society to keep all such anti-national accomplices and associates of ‘tukde-tukde gang’ away from public platforms.”There was no response from school principal Anuradha Joshi. Following the cancellation, a group of students and parents has organised a virtual address by Hasan Saturday from 11am to 12.30pm.
