Having been accused of ‘sedition’ after staging a play based on the late legend Mahasweta Devi’s short story Draupadi, professors from the Central University of Haryana are all prepared to present their defence on Tuesday, October 4, in front of the enquiry committee set up by the vice chancellor of the university.
The university has been facing a conundrum post an event organized by English and Foreign Languages department of the varsity on September 21, to pay tribute to the legendary author Mahasweta Devi, who passed away earlier this year.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – student-wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had objected to one of the presentations during the one-day-event – a play called Draupadi, and has been leading protests in Mahendragarh, where the varsity is based. The coordinators of the programme have been accused of ‘sedition’ for presenting a play that narrates a story of a protagonist, who survives a custodial rape. The protesters have claimed that a scene – where the protagonist is raped by uniformed armymen and the epilogue, which talks about oppression of the women and civilians by armed forces, are “anti-national”.
Interestingly, the university which had given its due permission for the programme, has asked the coordinators of the programme to explain their position in writing after the unanticipated backlash. Vice chancellor R C Kuhad has also constituted a four-member committee, which consists of Kuhad himself, a former army official, former VC of the Kurukshetra University Bhim Singh Dahiya and VC of the Himachal Pradesh University Kuldip Singh Agnihotri, to look into the matter and submit its report. The committee is set to meet all the involved parties in Gurgaon on Tuesday, and will be submitting its report post the meeting.
Attack on free speech
Professor Snehsata, assistant professor at the university and one of the coordinators of the programme informed Sabrangindia, “It didn’t even occur to me that such an issue can be created out of what we were doing, and it can be blown up like this. This is like enforcing a censorship on the free-thinking minds of our society. After this whole thing, which is clearly politically motivated, I’ll have to think a thousand times before uttering a word or expressing any kind of opinion. My mind will automatically censor me. What kind of system is this? University should be a place, where you need not go with popular notions; it’s a place where we should give platform to different issues and diverse perspectives on them. We need to speak up against such intimidation.”
She added that this is not the first time that ABVP has disrupted an academic activity. “In 2014, they had also stopped the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Raam Ke Naam in the campus. Electric supply was cut off in the middle of the screening because of their pressurization.”
Professor Manoj Kumar, who was the other coordinator for the event, has been allegedly accused of having Naxalite connections by some of the ABVP protesters.
Prof Snehsata said, “Simply because he has worked in Chattisgarh, they’re accusing him of being a Naxalite. Both of us have started receiving calls from the Intelligence Bureau after that and they’re asking for details of our schooling, background and connections.”
While professor Snehsata says that organisations like the Delhi University Teachers’ Association(DUTA) and Federation of Central University Teachers’ Association have extended their support to her and Professor Manoj Kumar, barring a few, many professors from the university have chosen to remain reticent. “We don’t have a teachers’ union inside the university, and the majority of the professors have distanced themselves from us. Is this really a personal issue of mine? This could have happened to any of them,” she said.
Protests against the play staged at Central University of Haryana, in Mahendragarh on Thursday. (Manoj Dhaka/HT Photo)
Flak from military officials
The event, which happened to take place just a few days after the Uri army camp attack has attracted flak from many of the former army officials in Mahendragarh.
Dr Sanjeev Kumar, HOD of the English and Foreign Languages department explained, “This has happened, because some of the hooligans have intentionally misinformed them and have taken the staging of the play out of context. Some innocent soldiers, elderly people turned up at the university, as they were told only the half-truth. We never had any intention to hurt their sentiments. That’s why the university has asked the coordinators to explain their position, in order to make these innocent soldiers understand.”
He, however, claimed that this would not affect future such initiatives on campus, and that this incident would not stop them from conducting literary and academic activities.
ABVP’s demand for sedition charges
State president of ABVP Pramod Shastri will also be meeting the enquiry committee along with the HOD of the department and the coordinators on Tuesday.
Shastri has demanded that the professors should be suspended and should be tried for sedition. Speaking to Sabrangindia, he said, “They have portrayed Indian Army as rapists. All of them are guilty, but are trying to dodge the issue. The University administration has shown double standards by allowing the play to be staged in the first place and now is pretending to be taking action against them. It was really wrong and insensitive of them to perform that rape scene on the stage and they should be punished for it. We’ll present our demands in front of the committee and then we’ll see what action is taken against them.”