How to Silence Scholarship and Subject a Conference on Caste to a Probe: The IIT Delhi Model
Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta | 31 January 2026 | The Wire
Earlier this week, the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, decided to initiate a probe into an academic seminar held between January 16 and 18, following a social media uproar from Hindutva supporters against what it believed was a contentious and malevolent comparison between race and caste. The conference, titled ‘Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race (CPCR): Celebrating 25 Years of Durban: Indian Contributions to Combatting Caste and Racism’ was intended to be what most academic seminars are – a gathering of academics, activists, and authors to discuss both similarities and differences between the two forms of discrimination. But, above all, it was a platform that was in its third such edition and intended to bring together scholars who have closely worked with people affected by various forms of discrimination.
The 2001 Durban Conference’s 25th anniversary provided an ideal window for the organisers to commemorate the United Nations organising the historic global forum against racism…