Indian scholar gets university notice for citing Noam Chomsky’s criticism of Modi in PhD proposal

He quoted American intellectual as saying that Indian prime minister came from ‘radical Hindutva tradition’ and was trying to ‘dismantle Indian secular democracy’

File. An Indian student holds a placard during a protest in southern Chennai city (AFP via Getty)

An “international university” in Delhi issued a notice to a scholar for citing Naom Chomsky’s criticism of prime minister Narendra Modi in his doctoral research proposal.

South Asian University, set up by member countries of the regional bloc South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, also initiated a disciplinary inquiry against the scholar’s supervisor, The Indian Express reported.

While the scholar tendered an apology “for hurting sentiments”, the supervisor, Sasanka Perera, a former vice president of the university and a founding member of its sociology department, resigned. The university confirmed initiating the inquiry to the daily but claimed that “no PhD proposal led to the resignation of a professor”.

The scholar, who wasn’t identified, received the notice in May for quoting from a 2021 interview of Chomsky in which the renowned American intellectual said that Mr Modi came from a “radical Hindutva tradition” and was trying to “dismantle Indian secular democracy” and “impose Hindu technocracy”.

The notice also asked the scholar to explain his choice of research topic, Kashmir’s ethnography and politics, the paper reported.

The university did not explain what it found objectionable about the proposal, submitted last November and approved by the supervisor, the Express said.

The politics of Kashmir, a Himalayan territory held in part by India and Pakistan but claimed in whole by both, is a touchy subject in the country, not least due to the long-running movement for independence which has, in the past three and a half decades, taken the form of an armed insurgency.

The university told The Independent the notice was issued due to “prima facie inconsistency with the Saarc intergovermental agreement”, without elaborating. It did not respond to a question about the resignation of Prof Perera. Asked if his departure was linked to the notice, a spokesperson for the university declared that “the query is falsely premised”.

Mr Modi’s critics accuse his Hindu nationalist party of turning India’s educational institutions into ideological battlegrounds amid concerns about declining academic freedom.

In August last year, an elite private university drew widespread criticism after a faculty member resigned due to a row over his research paper suggesting electoral manipulation during the 2019 general election.

Sabyasachi Das, assistant professor at Ashoka University, had faced intense backlash from the supporters of Mr Modi after he circulated his paper on social media.

“Manipulation appears to take the form of targeted electoral discrimination against India’s largest minority group, Muslims, partly facilitated by weak monitoring by election observers. The results present a worrying development for the future of democracy,” read the abstract of the paper.

In 2021, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, renowned academic and critic of Mr Modi, had resigned from the university saying it was “abundantly clear” his association was a “political liability”.