Farmers Movement Archive

Talk cancelled, former Delhi University teacher slams college

NEW DELHI: Calling it a subversion of academic freedom, former Delhi University assistant professor Sumail Sidhu claimed that he was disallowed from speaking at an online event of Ramanujan College on February 11. Sidhu alleged that his lecture on ‘From Baba Farid to Singhu Border: The Making of Punjabi Radical Tradition’ was cancelled by the college at the last minute. The college administration claimed that a technical error had led to the talk being cancelled. Sidhu said he had been invited by Sanskriti Society, the institution’s history club, to give the talk, but was told “just 10 minutes before it started that it was called off”. He had been requested to speak on Punjab’s historical journey and the aspects of this as manifested in the farmers’ protest underway on the borders of Delhi with the movement having been discussed even in Parliament. “It is the task of academics to provide that context,” Sidhu said of what he intended to say. The former DU assistant professor agreed the talk title was provocative but was chosen to give the talk the context. “The title was decided two-three days before the event and students of the college circulated it widely,” said Sidhu. College principal SP Aggarwal, while claiming that the history society hadn’t followed proper procedures when organising the talk, said, “There were some technical issues too and the college portal collapsed. It could be repaired only later. This was why the event was postponed. There was no problem as such with the talk.” Sidhu said that he was told that the troublesome word was ‘Singhu border’ in the title. “The faculty and students tried to reason with the administration, but clearly the administration was under pressure.” He claimed to be saddened because many had wanted to hear in in-depth analysis. “Some people had taken leave for the day to attend the lecture. I also got messages from people in the UK who wanted to hear what I had to say,” he said. The lecturer feigned surprise that the words ‘Singhu border’ could spook someone. “I was talking about a time-frame in my lecture title. Why is Singhu a problematic word? There is so much media coverage. Even Parliament discussed it. So why did the college have the problem with it?” Sidhu wondered, then mincing no words to add, “Acts like these compromise academic freedom and undermine academic spaces. Research requires new thoughts and ideas.” Sidhu, a former assistant professor at SGTB Khalsa College, is not new to controversies. “I was criticised for my paper on Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in a seminar in 2012. Some people claimed my paper hurt Sikh sentiments,” the professor remembered.

The Times of India

2021-02-14

Delhi