Academician Dr Rinita Mazumdar has said that her paper on genocide of Hindus was denied platform on a panel discussion on bias in western academia on genocide discourse. In a copy of email correspondence Dr Mazumdar shared with OpIndia, it can be seen that the platform of academics ‘Equity Unbound’ for its ‘festival’ MYFest22 had first agreed to her panel discussion and allotted 25 minutes for the same. It was scheduled on 19th July 2022.
However, Dr Mazumdar got an email on the day of panel discussion from one Sukaina Walji, one of the organising members denying permission for the same. In an email to Dr Mazumdar, Walji apologised for making Dr Mazumdar feel once again that her voice was not being heard but at the same time said that the topic of discussion Hindu genocide does not ‘fit’ the themes of MYFest and also ‘additionally’ runs the risk of ‘retraumatising’ the participants ‘rather than focusing on how to ‘decolonise our curricula’.
MYFest, as per its website, claims to being a ‘recharge and renewal experience’ exploring ‘critical pedagogy and socially just education’ amongst others.
Dr Mazumdar had pointed out how The Holocaust, the genocide of Jews in Nazi Germany has been the only genocide that talked about as genocide based on religious lines. However, there are instances, especially in current as well as undivided India when it was colonised by British as well as before that under Mughal rule that Hindus in the country were persecuted only because of their faith.
Dr Mazumdar said how her colleague dismissed her arguments on Hindu genocide even when she gave example of Noakhali genocide of Bengali Hindus in 1946, under British India, likely because it is still a taboo in western academia to not accept the reality of Islamic terror. In 1946, Hindus were attacked by Muslim mobs in undivided Bengal. The riots that went on for almost a week had resulted in death of almost 5000 Hindus. Other than that, hundreds of Hindu women were raped and thousands of Hindu men and women were forcibly converted to Islam by people from Muslim community. Hindus were also forced to pay Jiziyah tax to the Muslim League. However, such atrocities continue to be denied.
Speaking on the hardships she has faced in the academia, Dr Mazumdar recalled an instance when she talked about Hindu genocide as part of Albuquerque Peace and Justice Centre in New Mexico. One of the persons from audience then came up to her and attacked her verbally and called her a liar and accused her of fabricating the Kashmiri Hindu genocide. Kashmir in India has had a bloody history marred with violence and forced religious conversion with the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Hindus being the latest after the genocidal calls were given from mosques.
Adding more on her experiences of her voice on Hindu genocide being stifled, she talked about how her one more presentation on Kashmiri Hindus at Feminist Research Center at University of New Mexico required extra security as the topic of discussion was not well accepted by some people and protests were planned.
This denying the platform for discussion on Hindu genocide at MYFest22 by EquityUnbound is just one more instance when the topic of persecution of Hindus has been denied a voice in western academia. MYFest is organised by several US universities and participated by people across the world. Dr Mazumdar had submitted proposal on Hindu genocide with special emphasis on Noakhali massacre and killings during the partition of British India. The focus of the talk was how some genocides receive historical and social recognition while others don’t.
Dr Mazumdar said that she had sent her powerpoint presentation on the topic and after accepting the entire panel, the discussion was cancelled at last moment. When she asked for reason, she was told it does not fit hte agenda and also it would ‘hurt some people’.
Speaking to OpIndia regarding the same, Dr Mazumdar said, “I am a feminist and this is not “liberalism” it’s fascism. In feminism we say why we do not agree with death penalty of the rapist or violator is because some sexual attention is made public other victims are silent. This is because the narrative/discourse is controlled by those in power. Same with genocide narratives, some control power others do not, it works via taboos, laws, customs. They call themselves “liberal” but are so uninformed that they do not know how Marx critiqued “secularism”.”
Dr Mazumdar said that she will continue to fight for justice and recognition of Hindu genocide as she is slowly realising that worse than genocide is the silence around it and how the politics of genocide narrative is entirely vitiated with power. Resistance and counter narratives have to be built on histories and lived experiences of people, she said.
