Several universities and corporations have pulled out their logos from the website of the Australia India Youth Dialogue event after a number of groups and activists protested against inviting a BJP MP known for his amplified nationalism on social media.
These protests and petitions have begun to take effect with Global Victoria (an agency of the Victorian government), KPMG and Melbourne University disassociating themselves with the AIYD now, sources close to the matter told NRI Affairs.
As of today, partners for the 2022 Dialogue are Deakin University, the University of Sydney, Macquarie University and Monash University. Bluescope, which has established a successful global partnership in India as a joint venture with the Tata group is also an associate partner of AIYD.
However, Head of Communications at KPMG, Kristin Silva told NRI Affairs, “it’s incorrect to say we have pulled out. We are NOT a sponsor of this year’s event. We currently don’t have a relationship with the organisation, and I believe our logo has now been removed from their website.”
University of Melbourne informed NRI Affairs that the use of their logo as a ‘Dialogue Partner’ was an ‘administrative error’ on the part of AIYD.
NRI Affairs has also written to Global Victoria for confirmation and we await their response.
A group of concerned academics, global activists from the Indian Diaspora and members of various civil society groups belonging to the Australian Alliance Against Hate (AAAH), have raised serious concerns about the invitation forwarded to BJP leader Tejasvi Surya from the Australia India Youth Dialogue (AIYD).
The Australia India Youth Dialogue (AIYD) is a young leaders’ dialogue between Australia and India. It is held in India and Australia on alternate years; the AIYD claims to host 15 of the “best and brightest young minds from each country at an annual conference”. According to their website, AIYD “enables a rich exchange of ideas between emerging leaders to think creatively about how the Australia-India relationship may be strengthened through their own work and efforts”.
Who is Tejasvi Surya?
Tejasvi Surya is an Indian politician of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and a member of Hindu right wing organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He is a Member of Parliament representing the Bangalore South constituency. He is also the current president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of BJP.
This article first appeared on nriaffairs.com