A view of Jawaharlal Nehru University administrative building.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Days after Jawaharlal Nehru University uninvited the Iranian ambassador to India, for a seminar on the campus, the ‘Seminar Coordinator’ in charge of the event was removed from her post on Wednesday (October 30, 2024).
A communication was sent by the Chairperson of the Centre for West Asian Studies in this regard informing that Dr. Sima Baidya was being replaced by a junior colleague.
Wednesday’s communication that was shared with The Hindu revealed that the announcement was not circulated with other faculty members and were sent to Dr. Baidya and her replacement Dr. Vrushal T. Ghoble.
The one-line communication ordered Dr. Ghoble to take up the responsibility of organising weekly seminars “with immediate effect”.
A senior faculty member who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the notification signed by Chairperson Sameena Hameed appears to be contrary to the convention of the centre as it was not shared with other members of the centre as the post of the Seminar Coordinator is a rotating position that is shared by all faculty members by turn and generally all matters regarding the seminars are discussed in the faculty-student committee or among the faculty members.
In response to this paper, Prof. Hameed however defended the communication saying that “it’s only an internal communication” and that was why it was not shared with others in the centre.
Earlier, Dr. Baidya had sent a mail to colleagues and students of CWAS on October 22 announcing the seminar titled ‘How Iran sees the Recent Developments in West Asia’ which was to be addressed by Iran’s ambassador to India Dr. Iraj Elahi.
The Hindu has learnt that the announcement was followed by a flurry of internal discussion within the members of the faculty of CWAS and the School of International Studies (SIS) which is the umbrella institution that houses the various centres where specialised research on international affairs is carried out in the university. It has been learnt that following the discussions Dr. Baidya was urged to cancel the academic event featuring the Iranian ambassador indicating that the discussion could turn heated. Subsequently, apart from the programme featuring the Iranian ambassador, other two seminars being planned featuring the Palestinian and the Lebanese envoys were also cancelled.
Dean of SIS, Amitabh Mattoo declined a detailed comment as he is currently away from the campus but informed, the removal of Dr. Baidya from the post of ‘Seminar Coordinator’ was an internal matter of the centre and that he was not consulted for it.
The weekly seminar is a prestigious event that draws broad participation from the diplomatic community-based in the capital and one of the rare platforms where diplomats from the conflict-torn West Asia are seen engaging Indian academics.
A similarly cancelled event featuring the U.S. ambassador Eric Garcetti earlier this year had prompted the Dean Prof. Mattoo to urge all Chairpersons of the centres to take note of the “charged global atmosphere” before conducting seminars.
He had subsequently reiterated that communication after the cancellation of the seminars featuring the Iranian, Palestinian, and the Lebanese ambassadors. Concerned faculty members have asserted that the ‘Seminar Coordinators’ are traditionally allowed to function in an autonomous manner.
Published – October 30, 2024 11:09 pm IST
