Chanting “We want Modi” slogans, about 200 Indian-Americans marched through a prominent avenue of Philadelphia in protest against the peremptory scrapping of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to address the Wharton India Economic Forum’s annual conclave.
Marching under the banner of “Americans for Free Speech”, the protesters, who had mostly come from New Jersey and New York, carried signs that read: “End McCarthyism against Hindus…”, “Stop Academic Jihad” and “Fire Ania loomba”.
loomba is one of the three Indian-American professors of University of Pennsylvania who had their way in forcing the rattled student-organisers of the Wharton India Economic Forum to scrub the Modi event. The other two were Toorja Ghose and Suvir Kaul. One of the signs that the protesters posted outside the university’s Fisher-Bennett Hall read, “In memory of Free Speech 1776-2013. Killed at Wharton by the English Department”, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. Some signs seen in the march proclaimed Modi as “Future PM, India”
Mired as it was in controversy over the cancellation earlier this month, several Indian participants and a major business sponsor withdrew from the event. The resulting bad publicity prompted the Wharton forum to bar the media from covering the day-long conclave on Saturday.
A memorandum submitted by the protesters to University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann said they all were “saddened and outraged to see this great university being bullied by a mere three English and Social Work activist professors” of Indian origin.
“The principal issues here are freedom of speech and right to dissent. Sadly, both of these have been brutally trampled on at U Penn by this action,” the memorandum stated.
Arvind Kejriwal, the anti-corruption activist who addressed the Wharton meet from Delhi by video-conference, also criticised the scrapping of the invitation to Modi.
“I am not a supporter of Modi. In fact, I don’t agree with him on many things and have publicly opposed him on many occasions. However, I would like to put on record my dismay at the cancellation of his invitation to speak at this forum…It is very wrong. It is unbecoming of an institution carrying the respected Wharton name,” Kejriwal said.