SRINAGAR: A senior JNU academician faces a police charge allegedly for saying that Kashmir was not an integral part of India.
The police in Jodhpur Rajasthan registered a complaint filed by the Registrar of Jai Narain Vyas University (JNVU) in Jodhpur against professor Nivedita Menon following in-campus protests by right wing ABVP members leading to a shutdown in the university last Friday.
The complaint was filed a day after another teacher resigned from Ashoka Universityin Haryana after coming under pressure for signing a petition seeking right of self determination for the people of Kashmir.
JNU teacher is accused of saying that “Kashmir is not an integral part of India and that Indian army soldiers work for their livelihood and not the nation”.
However, Menon has denied the charges and said that an unnecessary controversy had been created based on rumours.
Last year, JNU witnessed trouble after an open seminar was held on Kashmir and some students raised slogans in favour of Kashmirs freedom. The then JNU students union president and other members had to face wrath of the varsity authorities while Kashmiri students were investigated upon thoroughly.
She teaches at the School of International Studies in JNU. Menon was invited by the JNVUs department of English to deliver a lecture Thursday on: History reinterpreted: nation, individual and culture.
She spoke about two-three objectionable things that Kashmir is not an integral part of India and India should give up claims on Siachen and that soldiers work for their livelihood and not for the nation, etc., claimed VC, according to the news report.
Menon rejected the allegations and claimed that the entire controversy has been kicked up based on the account of one former professor who is an RSS supporter.
I never said anything about Kashmir being illegally occupied by India the organiser introduced me as someone who had said so in an earlier speech from last year. Secondly, the point about showing Indias map upside down that was a picture from the Himal magazine, which points out that the world is round and that nations are not natural objects but imagined constructs, said Menon.
Regarding the soldiers, I said that the Army is also a means of livelihood and that if we loved our soldiers why do we treat them badly, she said.
She added, I did make a distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva, saying the latter is a political ideology that I am opposed to. What I basically said was not anti-national but anti-RSS and Hindutva and if that is a crime today then I dont know what to say.
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