Protest Against IIT Bombay Professor For Allegedly "Glorifying" Terrorism While Talking About Palestine
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has witnessed protest outside its main gate demanding action to be taken against a professor and guest speaker for allegedly glorifying terrorism while talking about Palestine and Israel.
The protest was against the remarks made by professor Sharmista Saha of the Humanities and Social Sciences department and Sudhanva Deshpande, who was a guest speaker during a talk session held under academic course ‘HS 835 Performance Theory & Praxis’ on November 6. It is alleged that the they had spoken “highly” of “terrorists” and armed rebellions.
Earlier, a few students from the institute has approached Powai police station with a written complaint against the professor and guest lecturer for allegedly expressing their views which supported Hamas and “terrorists”, said a report.
Ashoke Tidke, who is one of the organiser of the protest said that, “today’s protest was to show our support towards the students who are raising voice against the pro-terrorism statements and views expressed by guest lecturers and faculty members at the HSS. Some existing and former students along with other concerned citizens participated in the protest”, as quoted by Indian Express.
The protesters also claimed that Mr. Deshpande has glorified Zakaria Zubeidi who is alleged to be a part of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is alleged to be recognised as a designated terror organisation by several countries. The protesters sought to investigate professor Saha’s emails and phone calls to find out the “motive” behind the November 6th talk.
One of the students told PTI that the talk was a brazen attempt to “indoctrinate” the students studying at IIT Bombay via “hateful and false narrative”. The complaint given to police has read that Professor Saha has invited “radical leftist” for the talk in IIT Bombay.
One unverified account on X (formerly twitter) named as IIT B for Bharath has shared the alleged virtual talk session by claiming “Prof Sharmishtha Saha (Dept HSS) invited radical leftist Sudhanva Deshpande 2 eulogize Palestinian militants Zakaria Zubeidi, Ghassan Kanafani in the guise of the documentary”.
@iitbombay Prof Sharmishtha Saha(Dept HSS)invited radical leftist Sudhanv Deshpande 2 eulogize Palestinian militants Zakaria Zubeidi, Ghassan Kanafani in the guise of the documentary when @VPIndia visited @iitbombay & cautioned students 2 not to fall prey 2 anti-Bharat narrative.… pic.twitter.com/a5HkgJqDdq
— IIT B for Bharat (@IITBforBharat) November 7, 2023
Kobbi Shoshan, Consul General Israel to Midwest India has responded to the video in his X account and said that it was “shocking to read about the screening of a documentary of terrorists at IIT Bombay”.
Shocking to read about the screening of a documentary of terrorists at @IITBombay.
I am happy that alert students and office bearers of @iitbforbharat caught them red handed.
I will be happy to visit there and share the real. https://t.co/3TZCMJZQAO
— Kobbi Shoshani 🇮🇱 (@KobbiShoshani) November 8, 2023
Mr. Deshpande, who is a theatre person, was invited to IIT Bombay to introduce a 2004 documentary film ‘Arna’s Children’ which is made by a Israeli-Jewish filmmaker Juliano Mer Khamis. The film mainly focuses on the works of a theatre for children in Palestine. The documentary portrays the story of Zakaria Zubeidi who was a former military commander of Palestinian armed wing Fatah.
Mr. Deshpande had met Mr. Zubeidi in 2015 during when he had abandoned arms and was n advocate of cultural resistance. He founded the Freedom Theatre in West Bank for fulfilling his wish of a united Palestine where everyone, regardless of their ethnicity or religion would have equal rights, as said by Mr. Deshpande in press statement given as a response to accusations pointed against him by Times Now.
