IIT Bombay Cancels Sudhir Chaudhary’s Talk After Derogatory Remark On Hemant Soren
Sudhir Chaudhary is trapped in a turmoil of controversy. The Aaj Tak anchor found himself in the situation after his derogatory remark on former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in the primetime show. In the latest turn of events, the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT) Bombay has canceled Sudhir Chaudhary’s talk at E-Summit 2024.
E-Summit 2024 is the institute”s flagship annual business conclave. Chaudhary was scheduled to speak on Sunday in the convocation hall, but he was replaced with ShopClues founder Radhika Aggarwal as per the invitation sent to the students of the campus on Saturday night.
Chaudhary was scheduled to speak about journalism and entrepreneurship. The two-day event which began on Saturday was organised by the student E-cell but the administration has the last call on the inclusion of speakers at IIT events.
This unfortunate course of event for Chaudhary occurred a day after a police complaint was filed against the TV anchor over his remarks questioning the tribal identity of Hemant Soren and the rights under the SC/ST Act. But Chaudhary has called the allegations “baseless”.
The Newslaundry reported that the students objected to inviting Chaudhary to the event saying he is known for hate-mongering on television and had allegedly made derogatory remarks about tribals. Another engineering student who shared a similar complaint said Chaudhary “is a big hate-monger” so “we did not want to give him any kind of platform. His remark over Hemant Soren’s arrest was the peak. If IIT still invites him, then it is like sending a message.”
Chaudhary while responding to the hateful comments directed towards him said that he was pained over the baseless accusations of insulting tribals. He said criticizing Soren does “not tantamount to insults of tribals”.
During the Aaj Tak Primetime show “Black and White” on January 31st, Sudhir Choudhary said that Hemant Soren and his family were not “Adivasis” as they lived in “big bungalows”. He drew a parallel between Soren’s night in jail and tribals in the forest by saying that it would be like going back by “20, 30, 40 years like an Adivasi to the jungle.
