Gurugram University cancels discussion on Palestine by JNU prof; V-C says topic ‘controversial’

Speaking to The Indian Express, the V-C said, “A teacher at the university arranged the discussion and I was not aware of this as I was not present on campus. But we cancelled it later as the topic was controversial.”

The invite for the event was sent out and uploaded online, scheduling it at 11.30 am on November 12.

Hasan, Professor Emerita, Centre for Political Studies, JNU, said she was approached by the faculty of the Department of Political Science and Public Policy at Gurugram University after she wrote an opinion piece on Palestine titled “Israel’s brutality in Gaza – India’s pin-drop silence” in a national newspaper.

“They told me it was extremely important to have this discussion on the Indian response to the Palestinian conflict, on both a government and non-government level, and I readily agreed to it. The organiser called me again on November 5 to inquire about the title of the lecture and confirmed arrangements for the talk, including transportation, scheduled for 12 November. They told me they had received approval for the discussion. I was under the impression the V-C was going to chair the event,” she said.

Hasan further said around 1 pm on November 10, she was informed the discussion was cancelled. “The organiser said she was not well. If it was a health issue, why would you cancel a pre-arranged event?” she said.

“It is to the credit of the faculty that they were interested in holding a talk on Palestine though it didn’t happen eventually,” she added.

In October, three seminars at JNU’s Centre for West Asian Studies on the ongoing conflict in West Asia, which were to be addressed separately by the Iranian, Palestinian and Lebanese Ambassadors to India, were cancelled due to “unavoidable circumstances”.

The Gurugram University was established under the Gurugram University Act 2017 by the Haryana government with the Governor of the state being the Chancellor.