In yet another alleged incident of attack on freedom of speech, BJP leader Shazia Ilmi on Wednesday claimed that she was allegedly barred from speaking at an event in Jamia Millia Islamia University.
Ilmi says she was invited by RSS supported Forum for Awareness of National Security (FANS) to attend a seminar to discuss the issue of triple talaq on February 16 at the university. The event was postponed and then rescheduled for February 28 and the list of speakers were changed.
The event also faced protests with students terming the topics of the discourse as anti-Quranic and later changed the topic of the discussion from the controversial triple talaq to empowerment of Muslim women.
Shazia, who is an alumnus of Jamla Millia Islamia University, told ANI, ”The organisers barred me from speaking on triple talaq citing pressure from students’ body in Jamia Millia Islamia University. Students at Jamia Millia Islamia University don’t want any BJP leader to come and speak at the premier institution.”
She also accused the English press of presenting only one side of a story.
The forum, which has RSS ideologue Indresh Kumar as its patron, confirmed the sequence of events even as Jamia Millia Islamia authorities rubbished the allegations.
“The event was not organised by the university or any of its department. The auditorium was rented out to the organisers and in such events the varsity has nothing to do with either the subject or choice of the speakers. It was not our prerogative,” a Jamia spokesperson said, denying allegations of pressurising the organisers.
These allegations come amidst a raging controversy at Delhi University’s Ramjas College where members of RSS-backed ABVP are accused of violence over an invitation to JNU student leader Umar Khalid.