Subramanian Swamy at MoodI: IIT-B students slam organisers for calling politician to festival

After the controversial statements made by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy at IIT Bombay’s annual college festival ‘Mood Indigo’, some students have strongly criticised the oraganisers of the festival for inviting the BJP leader to the festival.

The Progressive and Democratic Students Collective, a student group at IIT Bombay, condemnded the organisers for inviting Swamy, as well as the fact that the Consulate of Israel was a sponsor for one of the events, according to this Mumbai Mirror report .

In his address to the students, Swamy, known for his controversial statements, called former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a circus lion and Congress president Sonia Gandhi a ‘vishkanya’ (A poisonous woman) according to this Firstpost report .

Swamy did not stop there. He also claimed that Manmohan Singh was incorrectly given credit for India’s financial reforms in 1990s, because it was Swamy himself who was responsible for “25 percent” of the reforms.

Swamy also predicted that Sonia Gandhi would be arrested in two months in the National Herald case.

The report also said that Swamy had sued the former Deputy Director of IIT Bombay Professor Shevgaonkar for about Rs 75 lakh as his “salary dues”. He also took a dig at Shevgaonkar, saying that Shevgaonkar had thought that the “best intellectual of India is Rahul Gandhi.”

“Yes, politicians should be allowed to college events for free exchange of ideas,” said Rahul Maganti, a student of IIT Bombay. “But, it should have at least two divergent views rather than a single member from a political party who is notorious for hate speech.”

On the other hand, the organisers of Mood Indigo at IIT Bombay said that students who attended the event were free to disagree with Swamy. “The invite should not be seen as an endorsement of a specific political party or person’s views,” said Gunjan Gupta, a third-year student and spokesperson for the organising team

This is not the first time a politician has been invited to a college festival. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was also invited to Malhar, the college festival of St. Xavier’s, Mumbai.