SAMBALPUR: Tension ran high at the Gangadhar Meher University (GMU) on Tuesday after a group of students reportedly owing allegiance to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) barged into a lecture hall during celebration of International Women’s Day and disrupted the speech of professor Nivedita Menon from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) calling her ‘anti-national’.
Menon was invited to deliver a special lecture on ‘Feminism for the 21st Century’. The agitating members not only created a ruckus during her speech but shouted slogans ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Nivedita Menon Go Back’ forcing her to leave the venue leading to cancellation of the programme.
The agitating students entered the hall with a 100-metre long Indian Flag and raised slogans against her. Many other students also joined the protest. Prior to that, videos of statements made by Menon in the past were circulated in the campus. The agitating group dispersed only after Menon left.
In a written note, Menon said her talk was disrupted by about 20 people, only four or five being students of GMU. The faculty present said the rest were outsiders. “I had spoken on patriarchy and feminism for about 15 minutes when they started the disruption. This went on for about 30 minutes. Many faculty members stood with me in solidarity,” she said adding, the disrupters threatened and harassed the students, many of who were women. The students and all others were forced to leave the room, she added.
Vice-chancellor professor N Nagaraju said, “We had a discussion with agitating students and the matter has now been resolved. However, no decision has been made about taking action against the students yet.”