The Central University of Kerala on Monday suspended assistant professor Gilbert Sebastian for allegedly inciting students to start a violent rebellion against the Modi government and spewing venom against the RSS and the BJP by referring to them as “proto-fascist organizations”.
According to the reports, Dr Gilbert Sebastian, an assistant professor in the Department of International Relations and Politics at the Central University of Kerala, was caught making hate speech against Hindus, Swastika, Hindutva, RSS, BJP, and other Hindu organizations during his lecture. The audio clip of the online class had created a massive furore across the country.
Following the incident, several student organization had voiced their anger against Sebastian’s hate speech and had demanded his removal. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the RSS, had threatened mass protest if the VC did not take action against the faculty member.
The Central University had also received a complaint from A Vinod Karuvarakundu, a member of the National Monitoring Committee on Education (SCs, STs, Persons with Special Needs and Minority Education) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development in connection with his online class.
As outrage against Sebastian grew louder, Vice-chancellor H Venkateshwarlu had set up a three-member internal committee to look into the allegations of misconduct against the faculty member. The university administration has now suspended Dr Gilbert Sebastian, pending an inquiry.
In the online class held on April 19, Dr Sebastain had made several false claims to target Hindu organizations, especially RSS and the BJP. In fact, OpIndia had got access to the audio of half of his lecture and the slideshows that he allegedly used during the lecture. In his lecture, Sebastian claimed that across the world, ‘Right Wing’ governments were coming into power and called it a “Right-Wing resurgence in the world.”
Right-Wing comes to power because of middle and business class
In his lecture, Sebastian claimed that to come to power, Right Wing uses lucrative promises. He gave the example of the great depression of the 1930s during which Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany came to power. He claimed these Right Wing political parties promised jobs, better income, and infrastructure to come to power. Not only the middle-class but the corporate world also helped them to win the elections.
Sebastian claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party used the same tactics to win the elections in India. He claimed BJP won the elections on the pretext of jobs and infrastructure, but they have done nothing since they came in power.
Sebastian claimed in Kerala and other South Indian states, as people are educated, do not support BJP. Mainly Dalits and the working class do not trust BJP, he added. However, nowadays, some Dalits and the working-class are supporting the party, but that is because of the political appeasement BJP does. According to him, Dalits can be lured to vote for BJP by appeasement.
The fake information on Hindu Holy Symbol Swastika
During his lecture, when Sebastian talked about the Nazi’s Hakenkreuz, he referred to it as Swastika and tried to make it look like that both the symbols are the same. When he mentioned Hakenkreuz as Swastika at the very beginning of the lecture, he asked the students if they know where else this symbol is used. For a few seconds, no one spoke up. He again asked them if they are aware of who uses the symbol. One of the students said that it is used in temples, but he did not take the name of any religion.
Irked by the fact that no one was ready to say anything on the blunt misleading comparison, he again forced the students to speak up. One of the students spoke up, but he was not audible. Then he asked the student to write it in the comment section on Zoom. The student said the Swastika symbol represents Kali or Shakti, whom he referred to as the ‘Black Female Goddess.’
‘RSS is the ‘Brows Shirts’ of India’ – said Sebastian
He further said that, unlike other political formations, fascism uses semi-autonomous civil society groups as militant outfits. For example, the Blackshirts in Italy and the Brown Shirts in Germany. He proceeded and put the RSS & VHP in India in the same category. He also claimed that RSS was inspired by Adolf Hitler and subtly compared the brown shirts of Nazis with RSS’s attire.
‘Hindu parties have militant outfits’
Sebastian said Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) is the mother of all Hindu parties in India. BJP is the political outfit of RSS. He did not stop there and claimed that Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal are militant groups of RSS. He further alleged that the Hindu NRIs sitting abroad send money for VHP and Bajrang Dal to create unrest in the country.
He claimed that BJP is a front of RSS. Many autonomous Hindu bodies in India allegedly do the dirty work for RSS. He added that Congress itself is the main organization. But in RSS, there are a lot of autonomous bodies that work under the main organization.
Then came the most bizarre statement. He claimed that as BJP is only the political front, someday, RSS will announce that there will be no elections in the country and will abolish BJP. “They might do that. I am serious. They might do that,” he said. He claimed that as the autonomous bodies under RSS do the dirty work, they can present themselves with a clean image.
He also blamed Bajrang Dal for the 2002 riots in Gujarat. Sebastian conveniently ignored the fact that the riots in 2002 were not initiated by any Hindu organisation. They happened in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident in which 59 innocent Kar Sewaks were burnt alive by a large Muslim mob.
North Indian Hindus are the root cause of atrocities against women in India
Sebastian claimed that the Hindus living in North India are the root cause of atrocities against women in India. He gave the example of the Nirbhaya case. He said one of the main accused was regular with his daily ‘pooja path.’ In the documentary, India’s daughter, that accused, claimed that the answer to women like Nirbhaya is rape. “But he used to do pooja path. What kind of hypocrisy was that?” he added.
During his lecture, he kept spewing venom against India, BJP, RSS, Hindus, and other Hindu organizations. He spread misinformation about Swastika and Hindus. He tried to paint Hindus as criminals, uneducated, ill-informed, and rioters. As OpIndia only got hold of half of his lecture, it is not known what he had said in the remaining lecture.
