Will the prominent US scholar and author Audrey Truschke be able to deliver her scheduled lecture in Hyderabad on Saturdayij
There were serious doubts about the programme as one after the other two venues have cancelled the booking following the threat of the right wing Hindu orgnaisations including Bajrang Dal threatening to disrupt her programme.
First the Art Gallery cancelled the booking after which the organisers had booked the famous Birla Science Centre auditorium. But the head of the center also cancelled the booking fearing the trouble.
Audrey Truschke author of Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court and Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth was invited by Krishnakriti Foundation and History of Peace organisation to deliver the talk on “Unpopular Stories: Narrating the Indo-Islamic Past and Navigating Present-day Prejudices”. Audrey Turschke is an assistant professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.
BG Siddharth, head of BM Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad said that he had “politely declined” permission to the organisers. But the denial of permission came after confirmation of booking after which the organizers had printed the invitation cards and distributed them to the invitees.
Significantly Siddharth admitted that the denial was to do with the fears that the program may create a controversy.