KOCHI: Coming down heavily on Harvard University for its decision to scrap two courses taught by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram director P Parameswaran said that the university, which has publicly declared its commitment to freedom of speech, has not only flouted its own principles but also attempted to discredit a great academic."They have not even shown the courtesy of asking Swamy for an explanation. The decision to keep Swamy out had nothing to do with his academic standards or the content of the summer courses on economics which he was teaching for last few decades,’’ he said.The university had scrapped two courses taught by Swamy at its annual summer school session, over a controversial piece he wrote for an Indian publication suggesting disenfranchising of religious minorities in India who did not acknowledge their Hindu ancestry."What Swamy wrote in an Indian daily regarding India’s domestic affairs about which there is world wide concern, is in no way related to the subjects which he teaches at Harvard,’’ Parameswaran said.He also questioned the silence maintained by the Leftist intellectuals on the Harvard University faculty’s decision. He said that the silence was in sharp contrast to the protest voiced by the same group with regard to the Delhi University’s expert body’s decision to remove certain portions of Ramanujam’s book ‘300 Ramayana’. Parameswaran noted that the portion from Ramanujam’s book which the Delhi University excluded from the curriculum was objectionable to the majority of students and faculty in the university."It was a direct insult to the perceived cultural tradition of India. The Leftist intellectuals raised a hue and cry saying that the author’s freedom of expression and students’ right to knowledge have been endangered,’’ he said."But in the case of Swamy, the freedom to express his view has been directly attacked. The silence on the part of the Left is not a matter concerning freedom of speech or right to know,’’ he said.
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