Two teachers in the Central University of Haryana are at a receiving end of a whole lot of grief for their "anti-national" portrayal of the Indian army in a play based on late Mahasweta Devi's short story, Draupadi.
The Indian Express reported today that Snehsata and Manoj Kumar, who teach English at the university, are facing ire of the locals, students belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and the university authorities, because of a scene which has Indian soldiers raping the protagonist.
The play was staged on September 21, just a few days after terrorists attacked an Indian army base in Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers. While issuing an apology for the play, the university has questioned Snehsata and Kumar, and instituted an internal as well as external probe into the matter.
"I am a university teacher and universities are made for academics and research. These are the platforms where we can discuss and debate every kind of issue. If we academicians will not talk of the issues of the marginalised, who will?," Snehsata told the newspaper.
Kumar said: "The university has promoted a culture of crushing debate."
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