The OP Jindal Global University, a private liberal arts university in Sonepat, Haryana, organized an event tilted ‘History of Politics of the Palestinian Present’ on 1st November, 2023.
The lecture was delivered by Professor Achin Vanaik, a retired professor of international relations and former head of the department of political science at Delhi University.
The lecture triggered a controversy as clips of it were shared on social media that alleged the event to be in support of the Hamas.
Achin Vanaik, the professor in question, was also accused by BJP leaders of making anti-Semitic and pro-Palestinian comments and targeting Hindus and Indian Army. The professor also reportedly targeted Modi government over its stand on Israel-Palestine conflict.
Sharing video clips of the lecture on ‘X’, formerly Twitter, Mumbai BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua said, “An event in support of Hamas, a terrorist organization, was organized in O P Jindal Global University. During this event, concerns were raised regarding the potential targeting of Hindu Culture, Hinduism, Hindutva, RSS, BJP & Indian Army which reportedly caused discomfort among some students and Faculties,” he said.
“The academic sphere, which is intended to serve as a secure environment, is sometimes utilized to promote cultural Marxist ideologies and anti-Hindu narratives with the aim of destabilizing Bharat and negatively influencing the youth,” Nakhua added.
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) national vice president Abhivav Prakash also posted to X saying it is a “shameful event” and the university was “glorifying Hamas and suicide attacks while slandering Hindus and India.”
As a reply to the allegations, Prof. Vanaik said that there had been a large turnout at the lecture; many had recorded and posted parts of it online. “The idea that I am pro-terrorism is absolute nonsense. My words were absolutely taken out of context,” he said. “I would want to clarify here that I do consider Hamas’s action as a terrorist action and criticize it,” he added.
Video clips of Vanaik’s talk were leaked online, where he can be heard drawing parallels between Zionism and Hindutva nationalism and questioned why one act of violence is labeled terrorism and others are not.
“There is a difference between Zionism and Hinduism. Both are racist and exclusivist. But Zionism is not anti-Muslim, it is anti-Palestinian. It is happy to piggyback on current Islamophobia. Hindutva is fundamentally and foundationally anti-Muslim,” the former professor could be purportedly heard as saying in one of the videos. In another video, former professor Achin Vanaik also said that the ‘suicide bombing above all is the determination not to kill but to die.”
On November 13, Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, registrar, O.P. Jindal University, wrote in a letter to Prof. Vanaik stating that “Hindutva is anti-Muslim” were unnecessary and objectionable.
Achin additionally argued that the belief attributing Hinduism as one of the oldest civilizations is incorrect. He claims that “archaeological and scientific evidence shows that the Vedic civilizations are much older than the emergence of Vedas by around 2000 years, so now you have to desperately talk about the Saraswati Valley Civilization.”
In one clip, the professor referred to Israeli actions against Hamas as terrorism. According to Achin Vanaik, “It is said that ‘killing our soldiers is terrorism, but killing their soldiers is not terrorism.’ He cited the Pulwama terrorist attack as an example, claiming that it is called terrorism, but similar attacks are not labelled as terrorism.”
According to media reports, while referring to Israel’s operation against Hamas in Gaza, the professor gave the example of the Pulwama terror attack during the lecture, stating that it is called terrorism, while some other similar attacks are not called so.
After Prof. Vanaik’s lecture, the Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon, in a letter addressed to the founding vice-chancellor of O.P. Jindal University, Prof. C. Raj Kumar, saying, “I cannot understand why an event delegitimizing the State of Israel was hosted at the University.”
The Haryana-based O.P. Jindal University therefor asked the critically acclaimed writer and former Delhi University Professor Achin Vanaik to “express regret” over his controversial arguments in a closed lecture, to which Prof. Vanaik told The Hindu that he had informed the university he stood by what he had said in the lecture, and regretted its misinterpretation and the confusion that had arisen as a result.
