Recent cancellations of Naseeruddin Shah’s Urdu poetry reading and activist-author Anand Teltumbde’s talk within days of each other beg the question: is Mumbai is losing its hard-earned reputation of a city that makes space for dissent and free thought?
The cancellations of the two talks has led many to ask the question about how the city is losing space to dissenting voices. Pic/iStock
When people signed up to listen to actor Naseeruddin Shah recite Urdu poetry at Mumbai University’s Jashn-e-Urdu on February 1, none could have imagined how the mehfil would sour just a night before he was to take the stage. With hours to go for the event, Shah was summarily told not to come.
In a scathing opinion piece published in a national daily on February 6, Shah claims a university official said it was because he “openly makes statements against the country”.
The ink on Shah’s article had barely dried, when news broke of yet another event being cancelled, this time a panel discussion at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival featuring writer and activist Anand Teltumbde. The speakers were to discuss his book, The Cell and the Soul: A Prison Memoir, which is based on his incarceration in the controversial Bhima Koregaon case. Officially, Mumbai Police cited a “security risk”. One can’t help but wonder, though, how much of a role Teltumbde’s background and the topic of discussion played.
In a triple whammy, a lecture by former Caravan editor Vinod Jose on “The State of Indian Democracy” at Kerala’s St Thomas College was also cancelled in the same week.
The impact goes far beyond the cancellation of a few events. It begs the question: Have we lost the ability to have difficult conversations? Or the ability to agree to disagree? Is the only answer to silence voices in dissonance with the majoritarian view?
The concern among the country’s thinkers is that students and young adults in particular are losing the chance to hear a wide spectrum of political views at a time they are just shaping their ideology and critical thinking abilities.
Anand Teltumde whose panel was cancelled has been under house arrest in connection to Bhima Koregaon case. File pic/Atul Kamble
When we reach out to Teltumbde over the phone, he begins with the disappointment of it all: “Firstly, this should not have happened. But it is a sign of the times; there’s no surprise in what happened. This kind of censorship has been going on for a while now.”
We ask if he thinks the tide against free intellectual discussion can be reversed. Ever the realist, Teltumbde responds, “This poison has gone down the veins of the people. To change that, we need a congenial environment and alternative discourse, neither of which exist. Radical change can only be brought about as a collective, and the collective has been killed.”
Never hearing any dissenting voices will only lull younger generations into a dangerous complacency, even as they are set to enter the voting and tax-paying population. “Gen Z, for example,” says Teltumbde, “dreams of a successful future. By the time they think something is off, they will find themselves working as gig workers. And when you are struggling with basics like food and shelter, will you have the bandwidth to fight against the system?”
Ever the realist, he paints a bleak picture of the future: “I know I sound cynical, but it will take us thousands of years to defeat this ideology that believes in polarising us.”
Kunal Purohit
Kunal Purohit, an independent journalist and author of H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars, has been here before. His book is an analysis of the right-wing media machine that churns out viral content to reel in the masses.
“My book launch was cancelled in a renowned Delhi cultural centre in 2024,” he recalls, “We were told that the event had not been approved by the centre. Literature festival organisers, too, declined to platform the book, saying it was ‘too political’ to be discussed.”
Censoring is not an alien concept, he says, but there is something insidious in the way it is being practised today. “This is not new. Over the last few decades, we have seen this especially with Shiv Sena trying to control the cultural space in Mumbai, be it with the cancellation of the Ghulam Ali concerts many years ago, or the protest against the release of My Name is Khan.”
“What is different now is that none of it is visible. Fear is in the mind, not on the streets,” he adds, “There is no violence on the streets, so you are lulled into believing that everything is fine.”
Naseeruddin Shah has written a piece blasting the University. Pic/Getty Images
Purohit points out that this has led to what is called the “chilling effect”, where people practise self-censorship in the fear of legal or social reprisal.
“Cancellation of Teltumbde’s panel sends a message to organisers of other events: ‘If you invite this person, you are going to be surveilled’,” says the writer.
“They don’t have to say anything, they’ve already set a precedent — ‘We will do this to you too’. Similarly, when you de-platform Shah, the message being sent out is ‘He is not on the list of people we want featured’,” he adds.
Denied any semblance of respectful debate or alternative thought, Purohit says the youth “will not know how to have these conversations that provoke
critical thought”.
But the author also feels that our institutes are giving up too easily. “A university where my talk was cancelled instead held an extempore session with the students in an open courtyard. This is the only way we can actually stop this tide of censorship of dissent,” he adds.
What we’re losing
Danish Husain
Actor, storyteller, and theatre director Danish Husain recalls how attending a debate on the Mandal Commission (established to identify socially or educationally backward classes) as a curious youth changed him forever. “A debate was held on it at the Delhi School of Economics, and [activist] Swami Agnivesh spoke about the atrocities against Dalits. People stood up and wouldn’t let him speak, but he kept his cool and made his points. That one speech made me pause and question my beliefs.”
In his opinion, recent incidents were meant to divert and deflect. From what, we ask. “It’s about taking our attention away from what is really happening — climate change, the water crisis, pollution, food scarcity,” he says, continuing ominously, “Greed, corruption, bending laws to benefit a few, and the way we have abused our institutions and this earth to further the hegemonic, oppressive control of the few.”
The stifling of dissent
. A bucket of water was thrown at historian S Irfan Habib at Delhi University’s Arts Faculty on February 12, while he was addressing students at during the People’s Literature Festival
. Writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) on February 13, over comments made by the jury regarding the conflict in Gaza calling the festival ‘apolitical’
Not too long ago…
Jyoti Punwani, an independent journalist who writes on communalism, human rights, and the media, recalls how not too long ago, staunch pushback from free thinkers had an impact. “In 2010, a chapter from Rohinton Mistry’s book, Such a Long Journey, was pulled from Mumbai University’s curriculum by the then vice-chancellor. Aaditya Thackeray, then a budding neta, had demanded this move as the chapter was critical of Shiv Sena,” she says, “Three organisations came together for a reading of the chapter at the Press Club, followed by a discussion on censorship by leading dissidents. I recall the terrace was overflowing with attendees.”
The recent cancellations, she says, are “destroying the intellectual atmosphere of the city”. “Those cancelled shows featured not just ‘leftists’, who have always been targeted, but anyone who has ever criticised the government or is not aligned with the ruling party’s ideology,” she adds.
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