The Young Thinkers’ Forum, a Madhya Pradesh-based group of young intellectuals and thought leaders, held its 5th annual ‘Young Thinkers’ Conclave’ at the prestigious National Law Institute University (NLIU) in Bhopal.
The event featured Hindu rights activist Rashmi Samant, journalist Swati Goel Sharma, author Neeraj Atri and several other young, nationalist speakers. The ‘Young Thinkers’ Conclave’ conducted a total of 6 sessions, which were spread out between two days (September 30 and October 1).
The event was organised at the auditorium of NLIU after seeking permission from the administration of the public law school. A small group of leftists (comprising some students and members of the alumni) learnt about the Conclave on September 25 and attempted to coerce the organisers into cancelling the event.
They objected to the list of nationalist speakers, and accused them of being involved in ‘hate mongering.’ The same coterie of leftists also opposed key sessions of the Young Thinkers’ Conclave, including ‘From Dogma to Dharma: Hindu View of Prophetic Monotheism’ and ‘Unravelling Wokesism: Examining the DNA of Social Activism.’
OpIndia reached out to an alumnus of the National Law Institute University, who was closely associated with the planning of the event. On the condition of anonymity, he said, “After learning that some students had issues, I personally reached out to them to pacify the situation. They wanted us to ban Neeraj Atri, citing his critical tweets about Abhramaic religions.”
“I told them that we will not de-platform any speaker but can organise a debate between them and Mr Atri. I invited them to participate in the event and assured them that they could ask questions to Mr Atri about his views and beliefs. But they refused to entertain any discussion and wanted an outright ban on him,” the alumnus of the public law school told us.
He further added, “I was keen on accommodating the concerns of this ‘small group of people’ and finding a middle path. But unfortunately, they were reluctant to engage in any form or manner. So, we decided to go ahead with the Conclave as planned.”
Rashmi Samant, who was invited as a Speaker at the event, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “There was a small radical faction which was tearing posters and banners with the speakers’ names and sessions. Instead of engaging and countering with facts, they’ve come down to hooliganism, violence and vandalism.”
Leftists lose their minds over caricatures and non-mainstream books
On Saturday (September 30), the vicious group of leftists cried foul over a banner, which featured caricatures of ‘historians’ such as Audrey Truschke, and Ramachandra Guha. Both of them hold the distinction of distorting facts in pursuit of their agenda.
When asked about the matter, the NLIU (Bhopal) alumnus told OpIndia, “The caricatures were taken from a book titled ‘Ten Heads of Ravana: A Critique of Hinduphobic Scholars’ by Rajiv Malhotra and Divya Reddy. Historians are not immune to criticism. Although I am not a fan of caricatures, they are well within the ambit of free speech.”
“The said banner was put up for a particular session. We had previously decided to remove it after the session was concluded and we went according to our plan. Some are now claiming on social media that the banner was removed by organisers after facing backlash. This is definitely not the case,” he informed.
The cabal of leftists also created hullaballoo over the sale of critical, non-mainstream books at the event, including ‘Jesus Christ: An Artifice for Aggression’, ‘Tipu Sultan: Villain or Hero?’, ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and ‘Jihad.’
“They wanted us to remove these books from the stall. Is this Iran where we will ban books now? If you find a book objectionable, then write a counter to it? What is this intolerance?” the alumnus of National Law Institute University told OpIndia.
The small group of leftist students and alumni on campus were also aghast at Professor Ram Sharma for calling out woke culture and the hegemony of the ‘pronoun lobby’ in a session titled ‘Unravelling Wokesism: Examining the DNA of Social Activism.’
Despite their all-out attempts to discredit the Young Thinkers’ Forum and disrupt the ‘Young Thinkers’ Conclave’ 2023 held at NLIU Bhopal, the event was a success. As expected, the leftists had a prolonged meltdown on social media.
Social media meltdown over success of Young Thinker’s Conclave
One Pranjal Agarwal lamented, “Regrettably, at my alma mater, the National Law Institute University in Bhopal, the administration is currently organizing the Young Thinker’s Conclave, scheduled for today and tomorrow.”
He also gloated about how his like-minded coterie of leftists was successful in preventing the Young Thinkers’ Forum from organising their annual Conclave at NLIU Bhopal in 2020.
“Back then, our consensus was that we should not allow a political party to promote its sectarian ideas under the guise of an intellectual conference, a sentiment shared by the student community,” Agarwal brazened out.
“Academic Discourse at NLIU. Disheartened and disgusted,” wrote one leftist troll.
“I have Muslims and queer friends here and this is like their second home,” another leftist troll called for the muzzling of free speech on BLIU campus in Bhopal.
“The problem isn’t just the fact that this so-called conclave is being held in a National Law University. What makes it entirely hopeless is neither students nor faculty members find it even slightly wrong that such views and topics are wrong to discuss,” wrote one ‘R.’
One Nandesh Yadav decried, “This is NLIU Bhopal, organising the Young Thinker’s Conclave. In the wake of elections and the direct influence of a party, they are serving ideological propaganda. Check their “Ten Heads of Ravana”. Pathetic.”
Another leftist claimed, “More depressing news about the takeover of educational institutions. Solidarity with the protesting law students at NLIU Bhopal.”
The Quint and The Wire to the rescue
To lend credence to the social media outrage by leftists, propaganda news outlets such as The Wire and The Quint published vicious articles targeting the ‘Young Thinker’s Conclave’ 2023.
In a piece titled ‘Uproar at NLIU Bhopal Over Event With ‘Communal’ Speakers Where Eminent Academics Were Villanised,’ Senior Assistant Editor of The Wire, Sukanya Shantha claimed that the event somehow ‘villanised foremost academics and political thinkers.’
She also dubbed books, critical of Jesus Christ and tyrant Tipu Sultan, as ones with ‘provocative titles.’ Her article claimed, “Students also pointed to objectionable panel discussion around pronouns used by the queer community.”
Throughout her propaganda-laden piece, the Senior Assistant Editor of The Wire tried to pass off isolated opinions of a handful of leftist students as the ‘dominating viewpoint’ of the student community of the National Law Institute University (NLIU).
“The SBA (Students Body Association) too has been divided on the issue. While the SBA president supported the event, many other members did not,” the article alleged. OpIndia spoke to the SBA President Nripaj Bhati, who made it clear that the student body has a neutral stance on the issue.
“The college or the SBA is not involved in the event. We have maintained a neutral stance on the issue. SBA does not endorse anything that was said by the speakers at the event,” he informed.
The Quint also published a similar article and suggested that students en masse opposed the ‘Young Thinker’s Conclave’ held at NLIU Bhopal.
“The event scheduled for Saturday, 30 September and Sunday, 1 October, drew flak for antagonising scholars such as Ramachandra Guha, historian Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar, and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, among others,” it claimed, referring to the meltdown of leftists on social media.
“Several students who spoke to The Quint claimed that these people have aired discriminatory and polarising social and political views in the past,” the propaganda media outlet attempted to build a case to censor the speakers of the event.
As expected, The Quint was quick to jump on the ‘Islamophobia’ and ‘transphobia’ bandwagon over criticism of ‘minority veto’ in India and the rising woke culture in the West. The writers of the propaganda-laden piece, Aliza Noor and Vishnukant Tiwari, also cribbed over ‘Jai Shri Ram’ sloganeering at the event.
“According to several students, Professor Raka Aarya, Dean, Student Welfare has allegedly been on a “witch-hunt” targeting students who are writing against the event on social media platform,” the article further alleged.
Disclaimer: OpIndia reached out to Ashutosh Thakur, the Director of the Young Thinkers’ Forum, and Raka Arya, the Dean of Student Affairs, via telephone call. The article will accordingly be updated after we receive their response.