A talk by former president of JNU Students’ Union Kanhaiya Kumar at Gulbarga University was called off at the last minute on Tuesday following “an oral order from the Department of Higher Education and requests from elected representatives.”
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were imposed around the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan on the campus where the programme was supposed to be organised.
Though the programme was approved by the university Syndicate earlier, it was called off by Parimala Ambekar, Vice-Chancellor (Acting) of Gulbarga University, using discretionary powers.
Speaking to the presspersons, she said she had reversed the Syndicate decision after considering the “oral order” and added that she had taken into account the possibility of disturbance to law and order on the campus. Interestingly, the Syndicate had given permission on the condition that Mr. Kanhaiya should not speak beyond the topic assigned to him or anything that could disturb law and order.
Mr. Kanhaiya was scheduled to address around 4,000 students on ‘Responsibility of Youth in Protecting Indian Constitution’ at the programme organised by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Study Chair of the university.
Ms. Ambekar contended that even the Syndicate’s decision to give permission to the programme was taken under pressure. “Hundreds of students had gathered to pressurise the Syndicate members to give permission. After considering the possible disturbance to peace and the oral order from the Department of Higher Education, I withdrew the permission,” she said.
When asked if there were any Intelligence inputs that indicated the possibility of disturbance, Ms. Ambekar said it was her “impression” coupled with the government’s “oral order”.
The organisers later decided to conduct the same programme at Visvesvaraya Bhavan near SVP Chowk in the city and approached the police to provide security. The police, however, pleaded their inability to provide adequate personnel at such a short notice. The organisers finally cancelled the programme.
Police personnel deployed outside Gulbarga University, and (below) former president of JNU Students’ Union Kanhaiya Kumar addressing a public gathering after the event at the university was cancelled, in Kalaburagi on Tuesday.
Security concerns
“We did not deny permission. We just expressed our concerns over security and the difficulties in deploying the force at a short notice. The organisers then decided to cancel the programme,” M.N. Nagaraj, Kalaburagi Police Commissioner, told The Hindu .
Responding to the developments, Mr. Kanhaiya blamed the State government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for trying to “suppress his voice” in an undemocratic way by misusing public institutions.
“Permission was withdrawn owing to pressure from the BJP. Don’t people from other political parties and different streams of thought address the students in the university? What does your act of allowing the others and denying me mean? This is misuse of power,” he told reporters later in the day. He addressed a public meeting in the evening.
Varsity no space for politics: Minister
Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan defended the decision of the university to not conduct the programme.
“The university is not a place to discuss politics. These are places for learning,” he said. Sources in the Higher Education Department said the thinking was that his speech maybe “inflammatory” and may have an “adverse impact” on students. However, the department remained non-committal when asked if they had directed the university to call off the programme.
