By Apoorvanand
It is not just symbolic that a day before the swearing-in of the government under the leadership of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister, members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) entered the class of Dr. Himanshu Pandya at Mohanlal Sukhadia University in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, disrupted his class, and forced him out of the class and the campus. All the while calling him anti-Hindu and anti-national. He was not harmed physically and for that, we would be asked to be grateful to the ABVP members.
Dr. Pandya is a Hindi scholar and Professor and was invited by the university to give lectures on research methodology. This was his third and last class and he was concluding his lecture when the ABVP members entered the classroom with a sheaf of paper. They had dug up an old Facebook post by Dr. Pandya which he had titled “Smriti Babri Masjid.”
Written in January when Narendra Modi was leading the celebration of the consecration of a Ram temple built on the land of the now-demolished Babri Mosque, the post rightly criticized the whole drama and talked about the injustice and criminality involved in it.
The ABVP members said that a man who is so anti-Hindu and anti-national as to criticize this national achievement has no right to be at the university. Dr. Pandya tried to argue with them, asking them to wait till his class was over, but they were in no mood to listen to him. The students were scared into silence and the course coordinator kept requesting Dr. Pandya to come out as he was concerned for his safety. Dr. Pandya saw no point in being there as it was impossible to continue the lecture in the noise that the ABVP people were making.
Dr. Pandya left the campus alone. It is quite shocking that the college authorities did not think it necessary to even call the police and give security to Dr. Pandya and ensure that he reaches his house safely. That he was not harmed cannot be the argument for this callous approach.
One of the students, who was a Dalit, came with his bike and offered to take Dr. Pandya to his place of stay. The ABVP people took out his ignition key. He managed to take it back and convinced Dr. Pandya to allow him to take him home. Dr. Pandya did not want him to be harmed.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
