IISER Pune cancels Ambedkarite talks after ABVP complaint

Pune: A series of talks scheduled on Saturday and Sunday by three women academics and anti-caste activists at Muktiparv festival dedicated to celebrating the works of Babasaheb Ambedkar and other social reformers at IISER Pune has been cancelled after Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) submitted a letter to the Pune police expressing concerns that "separatist, religious, and casteist comments" could be made during the event and could create divisions in society and lead to law and order problems.
The institute's student council, various clubs and the organizing committee of the event issued statements condemning the arbitrary cancellation of the events.
ABVP members accused the organisers of inviting individuals with alleged ties to the "Tukde Tukde gang".
Atharva Kulkarni, regional head of ABVP's western Maharashtra unit, said, "Ambedkar's birth anniversary should be celebrated in all educational institutions. But it is unfortunate that those accused of being involved in anti-national movements are being invited as speakers and guests for Muktiparv event in IISER, Pune. It is a prestigious and renowned educational institution and by inviting radical Maoists and casteists, its image and Ambedkar's thoughts are being tarnished. These objectionable speakers should be restricted and law and order should be maintained."
The speakers included Deepali Salve, general secretary of All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association, Nazima Parveen, author and scholar on postcolonialism and religious minorities and Smita Patil, scholar and professor working on caste and gender, with a focus on women sanitation workers.
Muktiparv is an annual event organised by dalit, adivasi and bahujan students at IISER Pune. Scores of students, academics and others have protested against the institute's decision and said they would resist censorship and stifling of marginalised voices.
The student council said it was concerned that the institute engaged with such (ABVP's) complaints sent to the director which should have been ignored considering their lack of merit.
Its statement said IISER Pune's act of calling off speakers for the event which had permission without citing any reason sets a perilous precedent for future on campus events.
"The institute's succumbing to such external forces is completely unacceptable," it added, calling upon the IISER fraternity to stand united against authoritarianism.
A statement signed by coordinators of clubs Aroha, Art Club, Disha, Kaleidoscope, Kalpa, Literary Club and Satrangi said this cancellation of talks was not an isolated incident.
In Feb, permissions for the pride march organised by Satrangi, IISER Pune's queer collective, was also revoked by the institute based on unsubstantiated complaints by external bodies, even though they followed all procedures to get permission from the institute and the local police, the statement said.
The groups said that both events were cancelled without giving the organisers full access to the complaints, stealing their chance to defend them.
"This raises concerns about the institute's integrity as it fails to defend and uphold its own procedures. It casts a shadow of uncertainty on all future events that would be organised by students/clubs," they added.
They said that such interruptions happened only when events representing ideals of social justice are planned.
The groups want the institute to make public complaints and all material received against Muktiparv and Satrangi, maintain complete transparency with the organisers and collaborators about approving or cancelling events.
"If external threats are raised, providing security to the students should be the priority," the statement said.
The organizing team (past and present) of Muktiparv, in its statement, said, "We will resist this censorship and stifling of marginalised voices on student campuses. We call upon dalit-adivasi-bahujan students and progressive student outfits across the nation to join us against this censorship and stifling of student rights and autonomy."
The organizing committee called the cancellation ‘yet another attack by the ruling government on students working for the rights of the marginalised and underprivileged in educational institutions.'
The committee condemned the ‘heavy-handedness and the anti-dalit/adivasi/bahujan attitude of the institute and the ruling establishment'.
In its statement, IISER Pune has clarified that the event was organised with the intention of ensuring no objectionable content was presented but it cancelled the programme to avoid controversy.
The statement added, "The institute remains committed to upholding the ideals set forth by Babasaheb Ambedkar as we observe Ambedkar Jayanti this weekend and throughout the year."
Salve took to social media to criticise the move.
In a post on X, she questioned the ABVP's actions, stating, "Only ABVP goons had a problem with the discussion session, so they applied to DCP Pune to stop this talk and the Muktiparv programme organised by IISER on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti was cancelled. Many universities celebrate Hindu festivals and speakers make public unconstitutional statements, but when they are allowed to do this, is there no thought given to maintaining law and order?"
Pune: A series of talks scheduled on Saturday and Sunday by three women academics and anti-caste activists at Muktiparv festival dedicated to celebrating the works of Babasaheb Ambedkar and other social reformers at IISER Pune has been cancelled after Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) submitted a letter to the Pune police expressing concerns that "separatist, religious, and casteist comments" could be made during the event and could create divisions in society and lead to law and order problems.
The institute's student council, various clubs and the organizing committee of the event issued statements condemning the arbitrary cancellation of the events.
ABVP members accused the organisers of inviting individuals with alleged ties to the "Tukde Tukde gang".
Atharva Kulkarni, regional head of ABVP's western Maharashtra unit, said, "Ambedkar's birth anniversary should be celebrated in all educational institutions. But it is unfortunate that those accused of being involved in anti-national movements are being invited as speakers and guests for Muktiparv event in IISER, Pune. It is a prestigious and renowned educational institution and by inviting radical Maoists and casteists, its image and Ambedkar's thoughts are being tarnished. These objectionable speakers should be restricted and law and order should be maintained."
The speakers included Deepali Salve, general secretary of All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association, Nazima Parveen, author and scholar on postcolonialism and religious minorities and Smita Patil, scholar and professor working on caste and gender, with a focus on women sanitation workers.
Muktiparv is an annual event organised by dalit, adivasi and bahujan students at IISER Pune. Scores of students, academics and others have protested against the institute's decision and said they would resist censorship and stifling of marginalised voices.
The student council said it was concerned that the institute engaged with such (ABVP's) complaints sent to the director which should have been ignored considering their lack of merit.
Its statement said IISER Pune's act of calling off speakers for the event which had permission without citing any reason sets a perilous precedent for future on campus events.
"The institute's succumbing to such external forces is completely unacceptable," it added, calling upon the IISER fraternity to stand united against authoritarianism.
A statement signed by coordinators of clubs Aroha, Art Club, Disha, Kaleidoscope, Kalpa, Literary Club and Satrangi said this cancellation of talks was not an isolated incident.
In Feb, permissions for the pride march organised by Satrangi, IISER Pune's queer collective, was also revoked by the institute based on unsubstantiated complaints by external bodies, even though they followed all procedures to get permission from the institute and the local police, the statement said.
The groups said that both events were cancelled without giving the organisers full access to the complaints, stealing their chance to defend them.
"This raises concerns about the institute's integrity as it fails to defend and uphold its own procedures. It casts a shadow of uncertainty on all future events that would be organised by students/clubs," they added.
They said that such interruptions happened only when events representing ideals of social justice are planned.
The groups want the institute to make public complaints and all material received against Muktiparv and Satrangi, maintain complete transparency with the organisers and collaborators about approving or cancelling events.
"If external threats are raised, providing security to the students should be the priority," the statement said.
The organizing team (past and present) of Muktiparv, in its statement, said, "We will resist this censorship and stifling of marginalised voices on student campuses. We call upon dalit-adivasi-bahujan students and progressive student outfits across the nation to join us against this censorship and stifling of student rights and autonomy."
The organizing committee called the cancellation ‘yet another attack by the ruling government on students working for the rights of the marginalised and underprivileged in educational institutions.'
The committee condemned the ‘heavy-handedness and the anti-dalit/adivasi/bahujan attitude of the institute and the ruling establishment'.
In its statement, IISER Pune has clarified that the event was organised with the intention of ensuring no objectionable content was presented but it cancelled the programme to avoid controversy.
The statement added, "The institute remains committed to upholding the ideals set forth by Babasaheb Ambedkar as we observe Ambedkar Jayanti this weekend and throughout the year."
Salve took to social media to criticise the move.
In a post on X, she questioned the ABVP's actions, stating, "Only ABVP goons had a problem with the discussion session, so they applied to DCP Pune to stop this talk and the Muktiparv programme organised by IISER on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti was cancelled. Many universities celebrate Hindu festivals and speakers make public unconstitutional statements, but when they are allowed to do this, is there no thought given to maintaining law and order?"