Assault on Academic Freedom
Ashok Swain | 27 April 2025 | National Herald
Earlier this month, Prof. Apoorvanand of Delhi University faced an unusual demand: to submit for prior scrutiny the full text of a speech he was to deliver on the theme ‘The University under a Global Authoritarian Turn’ at The New School in New York. His leave application to travel was escalated to the Union ministry of home affairs. The professor refused to comply with what he rightly saw as an assault on academic freedom. The university’s demand was not mere bureaucratic overreach, it was yet another reminder of the shrinking space for dissent and debate in Indian academia, now increasingly shaped by the heavy hand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authoritarian project. Since Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, India’s academic institutions have been caught in a systematic and ideologically driven campaign of interference and intimidation…