Ramjas fallout: A hunt for alternate venues

AFTER VIOLENCE in Delhi University over an invitation to JNU student Umar Khalid to speak at a seminar in Ramjas College, several events are being shifted out to ensure no violence occurs.

One such event, a seminar called Kahat Kabir, organised by the Delhi School of Economics, was held at the Constitution Club instead of the university. “Today what we are seeing outside is a conflict between two languages. One is of Kabir which talks about love, transparency and peace, while the other is about hatred and violence. The reason we have gathered here today is to hear that voice... the voice of rebellion which fights for unity and talks about eliminating differences,” Apoorvanand, a professor at DU’S Hindi department and the organiser of the event, said. Folk singer Prahlad Singh Tipanya and his team were also present at the event. They sang and explained some of the famous couplets of Kabir.

“It is unfortunate that we are forced to do a university event here. This tells us about the times we are living in. I wish we could do the event in Ramjas and the verses of Kabir would have reached the entire university. But this is happening everywhere. Be it postponing the street-play competition in Khalsa college or scanning names of panelists for future seminars. Some seminars are getting cancelled because the panelists are controversial and might say something ‘anti-national’,” Apoorvanand said.

Many colleges are now having to either postpone their events or have to make sure they don’t have any controversial material in any event. College administrations have issued strict instructions to teachers to ensure that no controversy emanates from an event held in college.