A webinar about 'resistance to Indian Occupation in Kashmir', to be organised by the Centre for Women's Studies (CWS) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), was cancelled after netizens and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested.
The webinar was to be organised on Friday (October 29) evening.
JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said, "As soon as it came to our notice that an online webinar titled "Gendered Resistance and Fresh Challenges in Post-2019 Kashmir" was going to be organised at 8.30 pm today by Centre for Women's Studies, JNU, the JNU administration immediately instructed the faculty member organising the event to cancel it. The program was cancelled forthwith."
He added, "The faculty member did not seek the permission of administration before planning such an event."
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) condemned the webinar as it undermined "the integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of India and the Constitution of India."
It also demanded action against all the people involved in organising the webinar.
"After the aggressive and forceful protest by ABVP JNU and due to our proactive stand, the JNU administration had to cancel the anti-Bharat webinar that addressed the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir as 'Indian occupied Kashmir'", said ABVP JNU President Shivam Chaurasia.
ABVP JNU Secretary Rohit Kumar said, "We also demand immediate action against the Chairperson of the Centre for Women's Studies and the concerned faculties who have mindlessly organised such a webinar by twisting facts on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with the intention to create a distorted narrative on Jammu and Kashmir."
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For the CWS webinar, Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said, "This is a highly objectionable and a provocative subject, which questions the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country. JNU can not be a platform to this kind of very questionable webinars. The matter is being inquired into."
