By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net
Hyderabad: Some 93 professors, scholars and intellectuals from different universities in Hyderabad signed a statement condemning the booking of cases by police against former Osmania University professors Dr. P.L. Vishewaswara Rao, Dr. Kancha Ilaiah, present head of Urdu department OU M.A. Ansari and others for organizing beef festival in the campus.
A lower court in the city last week issued orders to the police to file cases against professors on the charges of instigating communal hatred and riots in Osmania University campus. The lower court gave that directive to the Osmiana University Police after hearing complain filed by ABVP and other right wing student groups.
The academician community in city feels aggrieved by what they call cultural imperialism by certain forces. They urged the government to protect the democratic rights of citizens.
They said in a press release, “The Beef Festival on April 15 at Osmania University is an assertion of Dalit-Bahujan self respect and food culture. Nobody should force anybody not to eat what one wants to eat and nobody should force anybody to eat something that one doesn’t want to eat. Preserving one’s own food culture is democratic right of every individual. We oppose any attempt that thwarts this democratic freedom.”
Many professors from University of Hyderabad (UoH), English and Foreign Language University (EFLU) and Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) signed that statement. They appealed to all the secular and democratic forces to condemn such actions by police and right wing forces.