Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shazia Ilmi who was to speak at a seminar on triple talaq in Jamia Millia Islamia on Wednesday was reportedly dropped from the panel of speakers at the behest of the university administration.
A livid Ilmi accused Jamia Millia Islamia of putting “pressure” on the organisers of the event to drop her name from the seminar, a charge denied by the university. According to Ilmi, she was invited by the RSS-supported Forum for Awareness of National Security to speak on the issue of triple talaq and the university had pressurised the organisers to change the subject to “Muslim women’s empowerment: Issues and challenges” and drop her name from the speaker’s list.
The forum, which has RSS ideologue Indresh Kumar as its patron, confirmed the sequence of events, even as the university authorities rubbished the allegations.
“The event was not organised by the university or any of its departments. The auditorium was rented out to the organisers and at such events the varsity has nothing to do with either the subject or choice of the speakers. It was not our prerogative,” a Jamia Millia Islamia spokesperson said.
Programme convenor Shailesh Vats, however, said, “We had finalised the speakers and the subject but then we were advised by the university to make some changes saying the atmosphere in the universities is not conducive to have such a discussion.”
Alleging that students had also gathered at the programme venue to protest her presence and stop her from speaking, Ilmi said, “There was a lot of pressure on the organisers. First they changed the topic from triple talaq to women empowerment, then they wanted me to be dropped from the speaker’s list. In the first initiation my name was there but in the second card my name was removed.
“The organisers requested the authorities to allow them to invite me but they refused and said I will create a lot of problems.”
The allegations by Ilmi and the RSS forum come at a point when the debate on freedom of expression is at its peak in the country.
DU’s Ramjas College had last week witnessed widespread violence over cancellation of an invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid terming them “anti-nationals.”
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said the denial of permission to hold a seminar on triple talaaq is in itself a matter of denial of freedom of expression.