A scheduled talk -- titled 'Why Ram Mandir in Ayodhya?'-- by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Koyna Hostel on the 25th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition on Wednesday was cancelled by the varsity administration.
The administration also cancelled an event on Babri Masjid where CPM leader Prakash Karat was one of the speakers. The reason given for cancelling the talks was to maintain communal harmony, reported FirstPost.
Karat was to speak on "Reclaiming the Republic" where he would discuss the demolition of the Babri Masjid. While the Karat talk was organised by the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) and also featured Jayati Ghosh and Kavita Krishnan, the Swamy talk was being organised by "interested students" who are not functioning under a particular organisation, the report added.
In a notice, the administration said: “The competent authority has decided that no talk will take place in Koyna hostel, JNU on 06/12/2017. Hence, the talk entitled “Why Ram Mandir in Ayodhya” which was going to take place in Koyna hostel has been cancelled.”
Swamy was scheduled to take part in the lecture that was planned for at 9:30 pm on Wednesday, reported Zee News.
"JNU is afraid that my ideas will influence the youth," he was while reacting to the cancellation of his talk. Swamy called it the intolerance of the Left, the report added.
Vishwas Anand, one of the organisers, told Hindustan Times that they received the permission to hold the event four days ago but they were informed on Tuesday evening that the event has been cancelled.
“The event has been cancelled but the programme will happen. The permission has been cancelled to be held in Koyna but we are trying to organise it somewhere else as Subramanian Swamy is ready to come. The administration has not cleared why they have cancelled the event,” said Anand, who is pursuing a part-time course at School of Languages, told the newspaper.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court fixed the next hearing for the long-standing Ayodhya dispute matter for February 8, 2018.
The court commenced the hearings in the Ayodhya dispute on Tuesday morning.
Swamy on Wednesday castigated Congress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal saying that the latter tried to give Ram temple case a political angle in the court.
"He (Sibal) just gave his arguments on the political level, as they will lose the elections if they lose this case," Swamy told ANI.
Swamy further said that the hearing for Babri Masjid-Ram Janmbhoomi had begun where both parties had to put their positions before court, but Kapil Sibal said that the court cannot proceed since they have not received all the documents.
(With ANI inputs)
