KL Report
SRINAGAR
Condemning the banning of lecture by noted author Prof Mridu Rai by the government, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), today said it is out-rightly insane, undemocratic and dictatorial.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the party said denying intellectual space to anyone is the ultimate that any government can do to bring into disrepute itself and the place it governs. He said the government should have, in fact, facilitated an intellectual activity of this nature rather than having banned it.
Pertinently, author of Hindu Rulers- Muslim Subjects, Prof Mridu Rai was scheduled to deliver a lecture at a local hotel here, on “Languages of violence, Languages of Justice. The State and Insurgent Kashmir”, to commemorate and honour late Rughonath Vaishnavi, a political activist, organized by human rights defender group, J&K Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS). The lecture was not allowed by the police forcing the organizers to shift the venue to JKCCS office at The Bund.
Hailing from Bihar, Mridu is a professor in History teaching at Presidency College, Kolkata. Before that she has taught at Dublin University.
The PDP said personalities like Rughonath Vaishnavi are part of our political legacy and culture of tolerance and progressive mindsets that have guided the political discourse before the onset of violent politics.
“Irrespective of anybody’s political belief Kashmir as a whole would celebrate rational and independent political thinkers like Vaishnavi, and it would be necessary for the present generation to know about them and get enlightened about their political beliefs and methods. Unfortunately, Akhtar said, the present government has stamped out all channels of dissent and now it has blocked even spaces for intellectual and academic activity which will be resisted effectively,” the statement said.
