The All India Students’ Association also accused the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad of ‘attacking the stage’ while Habib was speaking.
Yesterday · 02:40 pm
A bucket filled with water was thrown at historian and professor S Irfan Habib while he was speaking at the Arts Faculty of Delhi University during a literature festival on Wednesday, reported The Indian Express.
The event was organised by the Left-affiliated All India Students’ Association.
Habib was speaking near Gate 4 of the Arts Faculty when, about 20 minutes into his address, a bucket full of water was thrown at him from behind a wall, the Hindustan Times reported.
The bucket did not hit him directly, but the water fell on him. He paused briefly before continuing his speech for several more minutes. A video of the incident was widely shared on social media.
“I was talking about history and how it is being rewritten, when the bucket full of water came out of nowhere,” Habib told the Hindustan Times.
The professor told The Indian Express that while the bucket contained water, it could have contained “anything, even stones”.
Describing the incident as “disturbing”, he said that universities are spaces for diverse voices which should be respected, The Times of India reported.
“If someone does not agree with what I have to say, they can have a dialogue or conversation regarding it,” the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying. “This is certainly not the way.”
The event had opened with a session on “Caste in Society and University”, addressed by Habib, who spoke on what the All India Students’ Association described as “attempts to rewrite history and marginalise discussions on caste within higher education”, The Indian Express reported.
The All India Students’ Association also accused the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad of “attacking the stage” while Habib was speaking and shouting “violent and threatening slogans”, Hindustan Times reported.
The ABVP is the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The association described the incident as a “deliberate, organised attack on a platform dedicated to equality, social justice and the voices of marginalised”, the newspaper reported.
The ABVP rejected the allegations as “baseless and false” and accused Left-wing student groups of spreading “misleading and distorted narratives”, The Indian Express reported.
Unidentified officials of the Delhi University told the newspaper that they had not received any formal complaint regarding the incident but would look into the matter.
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