IIT-Bombay cancels Prof Achin Vanaik's lecture on Israel-Palestine conflict; here's what happened

IIT-Bombay on Tuesday has cancelled a proposed lecture by retired professor and former head of the Department of Political Science at Delhi University Achin Vanaik on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. The lecture was previously scheduled for Monday evening but it got postponed to Tuesday evening. Students, however, received a mail from the institute's Department of Humanities on Tuesday informing them that the lecture has been cancelled "due to unforeseen circumstances". 

During this lecture, Vanaik was expected to talk at length about the history and background of the Israel-Gaza conflict and the bearings of the recent and ongoing violence. The former Delhi University professor's lecture was cancelled after a group of IIT-B students opposed Vanaik's talk via email.

They requested that the talk by Achin Vanaik be cancelled, citing the professor's address at the OP Jindal University. They also expected IIT-B to come up with "strict policies barring the occurrence of these sorts of events in the future." Last week, a controversy erupted after Vanaik allegedly backed the Palestinian militant outfit Hamas and reportedly made anti-Hindu remarks. 

"As a concerned member of the student fraternity feel compelled to raise several issues after hearing about this event. The speaker is a controversial person who delivered a talk at OP Jindal University on November 1, 2023. He is infamously known for making anti-religious (especially anti-Hindu) and antisemitic comments openly on stage and polarise the minds of students. Added to that he has also made anti-army statements and expressed solidarity with suicide bombers," the mail read. 

The clips from the lecture went viral on social media after some BJP leaders shared it and alleged that the event was in support of Hamas. Mumbai BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua shared the clips on X (formerly Twitter) and said, "An event in support of Hamas, a terrorist organisation, was organised in OP Jindal University."

He further claimed that concerns regarding "potential targeting of Hindu culture, Hindutva, RSS, BJP and Indian Army" were also raised, while adding that some students and faculties reportedly  felt uncomfortable. 

"The academic sphere, which is intended to serve as a secure environment, is sometimes utilised to promote cultural Marxist ideologies and anti-Hindu narratives with the aim of destabilising Bharat and negatively influencing the youth," Nakhua added. 

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According to one of the clips from the lecture that has went viral on social media, Vanaik called Israeli action against Hamas and its leaders as terrorism. He reportedly noted that it is selectively said that 'killing our soldiers is terrorism but killing their soldiers ins not terrorism.'

In another clip, he talked about the similarities between Zionism and Hinduism. Vanaik reportedly said that Zionism and Hinduism are not similar in terms of their approach towards Islam. "Zionism is not anti-Muslim, it is anti-Palestinian, but it is happy to resort to existing Islamophobia. Hindutva is fundamentally and fundamentally anti-Muslim," he noted. 

Not only this, he also stated that the belief describing Hindus as the original inhabitants of India and Hinduism as one of the oldest civilisations is incorrect. He mentioned that the "archaeological and scientific evidence shows that Vedic civilisations are much older than the emergence of Vedas by around 2,000 years, so now you have to desperately talk about the Saraswati Valley civilisation."

Vanaik also allegedly justified suicide bombing and said, "Understand one thing about suicide bombing. Suicide bombing expresses above all the determination of not to kill so much as the determination to die."  A spokesperson of the OP Jindal University, however, rubbished the allegations that the event was organised in support of Hamas and said 'the videos have been taken out of context', according to news agency PTI. 

The OP Jindal University had organised the event titled 'History and Politics of the Palestinian Present' on November 1. The former head of DU's Department of Political Science delivered the lecture. 

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