New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University’s teachers’ association (JNUTA) has strongly condemned the university’s decision to host a seminar on “illegal immigrants to Mumbai,” calling it a blatant misuse of academic spaces for ideological purposes. The seminar, held on November 11, analysed the socio-economic and political consequences of illegal immigration. The JNUTA alleged that it was an attempt to legitimise anti-Muslim prejudices ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections.
The JNUTA criticised vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit’s involvement in the seminar, pointing out that she had attended the report’s release at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on November 5.
The association accused the report of labelling all migrants in Mumbai as “illegal,” despite evidence showing that only a small proportion are international migrants. This incident is part of a larger pattern of suppressing academic freedom, the JNUTA claimed.
“The release of this incomplete and heavily biased interim report of an unethical ‘study’, coinciding strategically with Maharashtra assembly elections, is not an academic exercise but a calculated act of political interference,” Medico Friend Circle (MFC), a nationwide group of health practitioners, scientists, and social activists, said in a statement.
The group added: “It is a deliberate attempt to polarise the electorate, vilify marginalised communities, and incite violence against migrants in Mumbai. Such conduct from academics is a betrayal of the foundational ethics of teaching and scholarship. By reducing their role in knowledge production to being tools of divisive ideologies, the academics associated with this ‘study’ have brought shame to the teachers and academics.”
Also read: How Does India See Its Muslim Population?
Further, the MFC pointed out that the study uses “highly inappropriate and inconsistent data visualisation” and call it “a prime example of right-wing demographic alarmism and communal bias”.
“The study’s methodological and ethical flaws are egregious. Based on a sample of just 300 participants out of a planned 3,000, it offers sweeping conclusions about entire communities particularly Muslim migrants in Mumbai, who are framed as Bangladeshi and Rohingya. In this ‘study’ these groups are then targeted, dehumanised, and criminalised, portrayed as threats to national security, social stability, and economic well-being. Without providing any credible evidence, the report links these migrants to terrorism, smuggling, and organised crime, further embedding dangerous stereotypes that fuel hatred. Such a framing is not only methodologically unsound but constitutes a direct assault on the dignity and rights of vulnerable populations,” the MFC noted.
Notably, JNU’s School of International Studies has recently cancelled a seminar featuring the Iranian ambassador, and two other seminars with ambassadors from Palestine and Lebanon have been put on hold. Gurugram University also cancelled a seminar on the Palestinian struggle featuring former JNU faculty member Zoya Hasan.
