By Siddharth Varadarajan / The Wire

New Delhi: In a development with ominous implications for academic freedom in India, the Intelligence Bureau has begun looking  into the scholarly paper by a former Ashoka University professor on ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy’ and is seeking to interview the author and faculty members of the economics department on the subject. The Wire has confirmed this development from multiple sources.

IB officials visited the private university on Monday armed with newspaper cuttings seeking to meet the author of the paper, Sabyasachi Das, who is currently in Pune. A suggestion that other members of the faculty meet with them to discuss the contents of the paper found no takers as the officials refused to convey their request for information in writing. They then left after saying they would return to the campus again on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, some faculty members were advised to be ready to field questions from the IB officials.

As a ‘behind the scenes’ player, the IB does not have powers that the police and investigative agencies have to formally interrogate anyone or even arrest. The role it plays through its ‘investigations’ is to ‘develop intelligence’ that other agencies then get to act upon.

Das’s paper, published online last month, uses advanced econometric techniques to generate estimates of how many of the marginal seats in the 2019 general election that the BJP won might have been due to some form of ‘manipulation’.

The paper set off a political controversy, with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders denouncing Das’s research. The Wire has learned that some of the businessmen who invested in Ashoka and sit on its board received angry calls from the Prime Minister’s Office as well as from the Union education minister, in which the scholar’s motives were questioned.

While the Haryana-based Ashoka University has often played host to ‘sleuths’ from the state’s local Intelligence Bureau (LIB) – who attend seminars and events to take notes when the topic is even vaguely political – this is the first time the IB has deputed officers from its headquarters to visit the Sonepat campus.

This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here