The OP Jindal Global University in Haryana has asked political scientist Achin Vanaik to express regret for the remarks that he made during a lecture on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, Scroll.in reports.
Leaked videos of the talk of the former professor of political science at Delhi University showed that he drew parallels between Zionism and Hindutva nationalism and questioned why one act of violence is labelled terrorism and others are not, the report said.
In his lecture, according to Scroll.in, Vanaik also said that Zionism and Hindutva were different as the former was “not anti-Muslim” while the latter was “fundamentally and foundationally anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic”.
Further, Vanaik had said, “Suicide bombing expresses above all the determination not to kill much as the determination to die.”
On November 3, the Israeli embassy in India had also raised concerns about Vanaik’s lecture.
Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, the registrar of the university, in a letter, told Vanaik that the statements made by him during his lecture on November 1 were gratuitous and unrelated to the subject. Patnaik’s letter described his characterisation of Zionism as “informative” but said the scholar’s comments on Hindutva were “unnecessary and objectionable”.
Early this month, IIT-Bombay cancelled a proposed lecture by Achin Vanaik on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.