Tata Lit Live fest cancels session featuring Noam Chomsky, Vijay Pras

A dialogue session between renowned American linguist Noam Chomsky and Indian historian Vijay Prashad which was one of the key highlights in this years ongoing Tata LitFest was cancelled abruptly by the organisers of the event in Mumbai As a result of the cancellation Chomsky and copanellist Vijay Prashad issued a joint statementon FridayThe programme scheduled to take place at 9 pm IST on November 20 featured a virtual discussion between Prasadh and Chomsky on the latters new book Internationalism or ExtinctionIn the joint statement Chomsky and Prashad said that in September they were invited by the Mumbai Tata LitFest to be part of a dialogue session on Chomskyrsquos new bookIn a statement released on Sunday Anil Dharker founder and festival director Tata Lit Live said ldquohellipon the morning of the session we came across correspondence in the public domain between Noam Chomsky Vijay Prashad and a group of activists which clearly mentioned that this session would also be used to make a statement regarding how they feel about corporations such as the Tatas and the Tatas in particular including airing the views of these activists which was never the intended purpose of the sessionI do not wish to comment on their reasons for accepting an invitation to participate in an event and using the platform to air adverse views about the main sponsor What I do want to state as strongly as possible is that the festival which I founded and run with a dedicated team owes its success to a free expression of ideas not a free expression of someonersquos specific agenda The expression of such an agenda ndash whether against a specific organisation a corporation or an individual ndash is therefore misplaced in the discussions at our festivalIn conclusion cancellation of the session is a considered decision I have taken in my capacity as Festival Director Much as I deeply respect and admire the work of Prof Noam Chomsky this decision was necessary to protect the integrity of the festivalrdquoMumbais celebrated literature festival Tata Literature Live The Mumbai Litfest which is now in its 11th year went virtual due to the Covid19 pandemic this year The event that started on November 16 and concludes on November 22 features a twoday childrens festival which will have some sessions for kids with special needsThis years participants list include Nobel Laureate Sir Roger Penrose acclaimed authors Ian McEwan Martin Amis Lord Jeffrey Archer Ruskin Bond Shashi Tharoor Shobhaa De former RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan and historian Ramachandra Guha to name a fewKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever