On 7th November (Tuesday), the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay officially communicated that they had cancelled the proposed talk by controversial Professor-turned-activist Achin Vanaik. The proposed lecture was initially planned to be held on Monday evening, but IIT-B authorities said that they have postponed it to Tuesday.
However, on Tuesday (7 November), the Department of Humanities and Social Science sent e-mails to students announcing the cancellation of the proposed talk citing “unforeseen circumstances”. The email which has gone viral on the internet stated, ‘Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to cancel Professor Vanaik’s lecture. Any inconvenience caused is regretted.’
@iitbombay cancels inviting Achin Vanaik 2 deliver a talk 'Israel & Palestine', hosted by Prof Anush Kapadia HSS @cps_iitb. Students of IITB opposed inviting Vanaik bcaz of his Hindu-phobic statements & belittling the sacrifice of Indian soldiers @JindalGlobalUNI @CPMumbaiPolice pic.twitter.com/BdXt8mLSxM
— IIT B for Bharat (@IITBforBharat) November 7, 2023
Vanaik who is a retired professor of international relations and former head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi, took to activism and is controversial for his pro-Hamas and anti-Hindu stand. In the event, which now stands cancelled, he was expected to talk about the ‘history of the Israel-Palestine conflict’.
Notably, in the wake of Vanaik’s recent remarks, a group of IIT-B students had opposed the talk and requested the authorities via email to cancel his talk. Through the email, the students also asked the IIT-B authorities to set up strict policies that would “bar the occurrence of such events in the future.” The students also highlighted some of the controversial remarks that Prof. Vanaik made a few weeks earlier including those glorifying suicide bombers.
For cancelling his talk, the students cited the professor’s address at the OP Jindal University which was given on 1st November and had gone viral. The mail read, “As a concerned member of the student fraternity feel compelled to raise several issues after hearing about this event. The speaker is a controversial person who delivered a talk at OP Jindal University on November 1, 2023. He is infamously known for making anti-religious (especially anti-Hindu) and antisemitic comments openly on stage and polarise (sic) the minds of students. Added to that he has also made anti-army statements and expressed solidarity with suicide bombers.”
Expressing disappointment that the talk was cancelled, Vanaik claimed that his earlier remarks were taken out of context. He said, “It is a very important issue and a tragedy of our time. It is disturbing that IIT Bombay cancelled the talk upon students’ demand. My views presented in the earlier talk seem to have been distorted.”
Controversial remarks made during one such lecture during an event at OP Jindal Global University
On 1st November, OP Jindal Global University organised a talk titled ‘The History and Politics of the Palestinian Present’ by Professor Achin Vanaik who is now an activist. Several video clips of the professor’s lecture had surfaced online, which showed that in the name of solidarity with Palestinian civilians in Gaza, he made several antisemitic and anti-Hindu comments. He also attacked the Modi government over India’s stand on the conflict.
He claimed that Hindus are inherently Islamophobic, but Jews are not. During his lecture, Professor Vanaik said that although Zionism and Hinduism are similar, they are not the same in terms of their relationship with Islam. In the viral video, he could be heard saying, “Zionism is not anti-Muslim, it is anti-Palestinian, but it is happy to piggyback on current Islamophobia. Hindutva is fundamentally and foundationally anti-Muslim”.
An event in support of Hamas, a terrorist organisation was organised in OP Jindal Global University.
— Suresh Nakhua (सुरेश नाखुआ) 🇮🇳 (@SureshNakhua) November 1, 2023
During this event, concerns were raised regarding the potential targeting of Hindu Culture, Hinduism, Hindutva, RSS, BJP & Indian Army which reportedly caused discomfort among… pic.twitter.com/zVAnlrlV78
He also claimed that the assertion that Hindus are original inhabitants of India and Hinduism is among the oldest civilisations is wrong. At the event, Professor Vanaik also glorified suicide bombing, a very effective tool for Islamic Jihadi terrorists. He said, ‘Understand onpe thing about suicide bombing, suicide bombing expresses above all the determination of not to kill so much as the determination to die.’
Seemingly referring to Israeli action against Hamas as terrorism, he lamented that it is selectively said that ‘killing our soldiers is terrorism but killing their soldiers is not terrorism.’ He gave the example of the Pulwama terror attack, claiming that while it is called terrorism, some other similar attacks are not called terrorism. He was referring to Israel’s operation against Hamas in Gaza.
