A few days ago, the Delhi University administration canceled a youth magazine launch event that also included a panel discussion on "Freedom of Expression". The National Student Union of India event ran into trouble allegedly after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad raised objections with the administration against the event.
The NSUI had sought required permission two weeks prior to the event even though one of the reasons for their cancellation allegedly was that they had not asked for permission. However, the political group is sharing pictures as proof that they had sought permission and the programme was only canceled at the very last minute. The panel discussion involving Siddharth Varadarajan, Rajeev Gowda, Apoorvanand Aadhil Singh Boparai and Ruchi Gupta was to have a dialogue on the freedom of expression and ironically were stopped from doing the same.
NSUI reached out to other political groups like AISA and CPI for support. Kawalpreet Kaur, from AISA, said that the incidents like these were happening almost every other day now. "Every other programme keeps getting canceled or it is disrupted or vandalised by the ABVP. The reason is merely a difference in viewpoint or ideology," she said. Pointing out that the campus should be open to all, Kawalpreet added, "The administration cannot continue to censor just this one point of view and allow other voices to be heard. They still haven't given us a proper reason for why the event was even canceled in the first place."
Despite being canceled, the release of the magazine took place anyway - on the roads outside the university. The magazine, DYouth, contains interviews and articles of and by various politicians from different parties. From Subramanian Swamy, Jayant Sinha, Pinky Anand and Udit Raj from the BJP to P. Chidambaram, Sheila Dikshit and Ruchi Gupta from Congress.
Now if the opposing voices continue to get snuffed out, isn't the student body going to come together to take a more firm stand. "The decision to release the magazine anyway even if not inside a campus or inside the auditorium is what shows that we will not bend down to any of these injustices. We ensured it happened no matter what and that's how we should be with all other events too. We should still and try to conduct them anyway, that's how we will be able to take our freedom back," she explained.
