Director of the Young Thinkers’ Forum speaks completely to Opindia

Days after a small group of leftists did not ‘cancel’ the Young Thinkers’ Conclave held on the National Law Institute University (NLIU) in Bhopal, the Director of the Young Thinkers’ Forum, Ashutosh Singh Thakur, spoke completely to OpIndia on Monday (October 2).

There has been a ‘hue and cry’ on social media over some books, which have been being offered on the occasion. Leftist media retailers made a fuss about caricatures of some ‘historians’, which have been impressed by the ebook ‘Ten Heads of Ravana: A Critique of Hinduphobic Scholars.’ What do you wish to say in regards to the controversy?

I need them (leftists) to first learn these books, discover the so-called lies/ fabrications after which debate them. They will not be disputing the contents of the books. They will not be even debating on the ebook ‘Ten Heads of Ravana.’ They merely wish to cancel and ban these books.

They are merely placing up labels of ‘hate-mongering’ and ‘hate speech’ on the audio system of the Young Thinkers’ Conclave. They will not be keen to have interaction in dialogue although we introduced them the chance.

Most of those college students didn’t know that the caricatures have been primarily based on the ebook of Rajiv Malhotra and Divya Reddy. I needed to clarify to a few of them that ‘Ten Heads of Ravana’ is a ebook, which was printed 6 months in the past.

I request them to learn the ebook and supply a befitting reply to the authors and publishers if they will. This is a chance for them. But they simply wished us to take away it altogether.

Why do you assume that the ‘leftist ecosystem’ has been rattled by one occasion?

They are reluctant to speak about information. They opposed the Young Thinkers’ Conclave as a result of it didn’t go well with their private opinions. They don’t need anyone on their campus (NLIU Bhopal), who doesn’t subscribe to their worldview.

The majority of the coed neighborhood didn’t have an issue with the occasion. It’s solely a handful of leftist college students who created this hue and cry. They are afraid of exhibitions, books, and occasions that don’t go well with their propaganda, ideology and opinions. As such, they wished to ban us.

Only reality was spoken on the occasion. They will not be towards us however the reality. We will maintain talking the reality regardless of who opposes us.

Did they attempt to intimidate you and different members of the Young Thinkers’ Forum?

Yeah. They tore our flex posters with cutters. This occurred on the intervening evening between September 29 and September 30. On the day of the occasion, we discovered that our branding materials had been destroyed.

I don’t know what sort of occasions are held at NLIU Bhopal. Maybe there haven’t been many occasions thus far, which have challenged the ideology of those handful of scholars.

A lawyer on X (previously Twitter) claimed that the Young Thinkers’ Forum was denied permission to host an identical Conclave on the National Law Institute University in 2020. Is there any reality to such allegations?

In 2020, we didn’t attempt to organise the occasion offline. We did it on-line. It was the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Why would we strategy NLIU on the time of Covid-19? These individuals submit something to propagate their agenda.

They didn’t even verify that there was a pandemic at the moment and no query arose about internet hosting such an occasion offline at NLIU Bhopal. We by no means tried to contact the school administration earlier than this occasion.

It was solely this time that we contacted the school. They supplied us with a venue, and we hosted an instructional occasion.

How would you reply to the problems raised by the handful of scholars at NLIU?

If they provide any correct educational rebuttal to any of the talks within the Conclave or no matter was introduced within the occasion, then we may do one thing about it

They haven’t any proper to inform us to not go forward with the occasion or ban audio system that they don’t like. Now, they’re reposting tweets of Neeraj Atri however not offering a counter to his tweets.

If they assume that his tweets are incorrect, then, why don’t they show it incorrect? Their objection isn’t educational, logical or factual. Just as a result of it doesn’t go well with their agenda, they aren’t in a position to digest it.

You will need to have learn the articles by the left media, which focused the Young Thinkers’ Conclave for supposedly ridiculing ‘historians’. What do you wish to say about it?

We know the monitor document of those ‘historians’. They (the left media) are writing as if we’re ‘villanising eminent intellectuals’. These liars are intellectuals and our audio system are someway hatemongers. This is the irony.

The Background of the ‘NLIU Bhopal’ Controversy

The Young Thinkers’ Forum, a Madhya Pradesh-based group of younger intellectuals and thought leaders, held its fifth annual ‘Young Thinkers’ Conclave’ on the prestigious National Law Institute University (NLIU) in Bhopal.

The occasion featured Hindu rights activist Rashmi Samant, journalist Swati Goel Sharma, creator Neeraj Atri and several other different younger, nationalist audio system. The ‘Young Thinkers’ Conclave’ carried out a complete of 6 classes, which have been unfold out between two days (September 30 and October 1).

The occasion was organised on the auditorium of NLIU after in search of permission from the administration of the general public legislation faculty. A small group of leftists (comprising some college students and members of the alumni) learnt in regards to the Conclave on September 25 and tried to coerce the organisers into cancelling the occasion.

The day one in every of Young Thinkers’ Conclave 2023 at NLIU Bhopal!!! #wokeism #monotheism #IKS #decodingmanufacturednarratives #Bhartiyaview #intellectualleadership #youngthinkersconclave23 #YTC23 pic.twitter.com/GTEzYOZolb

— Young Thinkers’ Forum (@YTFbhopal) October 1, 2023

They objected to the listing of nationalist audio system, and accused them of being concerned in ‘hate mongering.’ The identical coterie of leftists additionally opposed key classes of the Young Thinkers’ Conclave, together with ‘From Dogma to Dharma: Hindu View of Prophetic Monotheism’ and ‘Unravelling Wokesism: Examining the DNA of Social Activism.’

On Saturday (September 30), the vicious group of leftists cried foul over a banner, which featured caricatures of ‘historians’ similar to Audrey Truschke, and Ramachandra Guha. Both of them maintain the excellence of distorting information in pursuit of their agenda.

The cabal of leftists additionally created hullaballoo over the sale of vital, non-mainstream books on the occasion, together with ‘Jesus Christ: An Artifice for Aggression’, ‘Tipu Sultan: Villain or Hero?’, ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and ‘Jihad.’ 

Cancel tradition, hooliganism, vandalism, assault on free speech and blatant hypocrisy is one thing I’ve had the misfortune of witnessing on the reputed @NLIU_official campus the place I used to be an invited visitor and speaker. There was a small radical faction which was tearing posters and… pic.twitter.com/f9QGPx5U6Z

— Rashmi Samant (@RashmiDVS) October 1, 2023

The small group of leftist college students and alumni on campus have been additionally aghast at Professor Ram Sharma for calling out woke tradition and the hegemony of the ‘pronoun lobby’ in a session titled ‘Unravelling Wokesism: Examining the DNA of Social Activism.’

Despite their all-out makes an attempt to discredit the Young Thinkers’ Forum and disrupt the ‘Young Thinkers’ Conclave’ 2023 held at NLIU Bhopal, the occasion was a hit. As anticipated, the leftists had a protracted meltdown on social media.

To lend credence to the social media outrage by leftists, propaganda information retailers similar to The Wire and The Quint printed vicious articles focusing on the ‘Young Thinker’s Conclave’ 2023.