IIT Bombay Cancels Lecture by Prof Who Returned Sahitya Akademi Award

New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay called off a lecture scheduled for January 31 by scholar Ganesh Devy, a cultural activist, literary critic, and former professor of English at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, sparking concerns among students about the institute's lecture cancellation practices.

Devy had been invited by IIT Bombay authorities to deliver a talk titled 'The crisis within: On Knowledge and Education in India' as part of the 'Institute Lecture' series. The event was communicated to students and faculty a month in advance.

However, on January 30, the eve of the lecture, authorities informed students and faculty members that the talk was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. The decision to cancel the lecture was made by the committee responsible for regulating lectures at the IIT Bombay campus, as reported by Hindustan Times.

In 2015, Devy returned the Sahitya Akademi award as a mark of protest and in solidarity with other writers over “growing intolerance towards differences of opinion in the country.

Expressing disappointment, a student from the campus told the Hindustan Times, “We were very happy when the institute decided to invite him to the campus. But going by past instances, we feared that the institute may cancel the lecture."

In response to the cancellation, students from Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle at IIT-B organised a reading of Devy’s book at the same time and venue on Wednesday, attended by around 25 residents on the campus, including a few faculty members.

Commenting on the situation, Professor Devy mentioned that he had not been associated with IIT Bombay previously. He shared that a member of the institute's lecture committee had invited him to give a lecture, but the day before his scheduled departure, the same person informed him about the cancellation of the lecture. Devy stated that he chose not to inquire about the reasons, considering it was not his basic right to do so. Given his numerous pending tasks. However, he told the Times of India, "Such last-minute cancellations do leave a bitter taste."

Attempting to understand the reasons behind the cancellation, Devy remarked to the Times of India, "It is difficult for me to understand the motivation behind calling off the event. If I could deliver a lecture at IIT-Guwahati, another central institute, governed by the same regulations, then why not IIT-Bombay?" He emphasised that the content of the book or the topic of the lecture shouldn't be the cause, stating, "They are a scientific organisation, and I would like to believe that the reasons are not irrational."

Notably, this is not the first instance of a lecture being cancelled at IIT Bombay. In November of the previous year, the institute cancelled a lecture titled 'Israel-Palestine: The Historical Context' by Professor Achin Vanaik, and in 2022, a two-day conference on Left politics titled 'Cultures of the Political Left in Modern India' was also cancelled.

Following the cancellation of the lecture on the Israel-Palestine conflict, over 50 students had written a letter to the authorities expressing concern about the loss of academic freedom on the campus.