Resist the Assault on Academic Freedom and Integrity
13 February 2026 | Democratic Teacher’s Front (DTF)
The Delhi University Literature Festival (DULF) is a thinly veiled political jamboree organised by the BJP and its affiliated bodies. This is evident from the fact that the DULF systematically excludes authentically academic writers, critics, and literary voices while showcasing ruling-party politicians who possess no discernible literary calibre.
The festival’s line-up is telling: the inauguration is to be presided over by the Union Education Minister, and the valedictory session by the Minister for Culture and Tourism. Neither is known for any authentic contribution to literature. Meanwhile, distinguished scholars, award-winning authors, and independent critics have been conspicuously omitted from the programme. This is not a literature festival; it is a public relations exercise designed to appropriate cultural space for the political branding of the ruling party.
Colleges and departments across the university are being directed – through informal administrative “persuasion” – to cancel or reschedule their own academic and cultural events on the days the DULF is held. This coercive, top-down measure is intended to inflate attendance figures artificially and manufacture an appearance of organic enthusiasm. Such interference in the academic calendar is a gross violation of academic integrity that compromises both institutional autonomy and intellectual pluralism.
More alarming still is the issuance, alongside the DULF schedule, of a new mandatory declaration for booking any university auditorium, stadium, or hall. The full text of this declaration reads:
“I hereby declare that the request for booking the University Auditorium/Stadium/Halls for my/our Institution’s programme/conference/symposium/seminar is purely based on institutional administrative/academic/cultural activities and does not involve any anti-national, anti-religious, anti-institutional, anti-social, or unconstitutional activities. It is also not affiliated with any political party and does not engage in any political activity.
Furthermore, I assure you and take full responsibility that no hate speech will be delivered in this programme/conference/seminar against any religion/nation/political party. The participants involved are not associated with any anti-national organisations banned in India. We will uphold the integrity of India and the dignity of those holding constitutional positions in India.”
This declaration is not merely irrational; it is a prior restraint on free speech that flagrantly violates Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression. By compelling organisers to pre-emptively renounce any critical discussion of policy, religion, or political parties – and by conflating legitimate academic critique with “anti-national” activity – the university administration has created a chilling atmosphere that is antithetical to the very purpose of higher education, i.e. critical thinking and action.
Such unacademic edicts will have enduring consequences. If students and faculty are denied the space for rigorous, detailed, and sometimes uncomfortable critical engagement, they cannot develop the analytical tools necessary to contribute meaningfully to rational policy formulation and implementation. Any country, including India, depends on the intellectual fearlessness of today’s campus communities. To muzzle that now is to impoverish the country’s future governance prospects.
DTF calls upon the Vice Chancellor and the Executive Council to immediately revoke the unconstitutional declaration, cease all coercive measures to boost DULF attendance, and reconstitute the literature festival as a genuinely inclusive, academically credible platform that can meaningfully further the intellectual potential of the University of Delhi.