New Delhi: A poetry reading event on the Palestinian crisis which was scheduled to be held on Monday, April 15 was cancelled by Delhi University without specifying any reason, as per the organisers.
Speaking to The Wire, the organisers of the event – titled ‘Let us hear a Palestinian word’ – Delhi University professors Apoorvanand and Arjumand Ara said that the programme was to be held on March 22 and permission for the same was granted by the Delhi University Estate Section on March 19.
It was postposed to April 15 by the organisers since March 22 was declared a non-teaching day due to Holi.
However, although the “nature of the event wasn’t changed”, the university cancelled it by sending an e-mail to Apoorvanand on Saturday, April 13.
“I was shocked that the event was cancelled because it was approved earlier to be held in March and we preponed it only because it was a holiday and the nature of the event wasn’t changed. I also felt humiliated since we had publicised it and students were also informed,” Apoorvanand said.
Renowned poet Ashok Vajpeyi was invited as a speaker for the event, which was originally planned to take place in room no. 22 in the university’s Arts Faculty building.
Room No. 22 shut by authorities of Delhi University for which permission was earlier granted to host an event on Palestine. Photo: Special Arrangement
To mark their protest against the resistance imposed by the administration, the organisers and students gathered in the corridor outside room no. 22, and held discussions on Palestine and recited poems like Refaat Alareer’s ‘If I Must Die’ as translated by Ara and Hanan Ashrawi’s ‘From The Diary of an Almost Four Year Old’ as translated by Nidheesh Tyagi.
“We stood in the corridor outside the room and recited poems. We didn’t want to create trouble or any problem, we wanted to simply send a political message since we were not allowed to host the event on Palestine,” Ara said.
Meanwhile, latest reports suggest that the damage to the Gaza Strip is estimated to be $18.5 billion, which is 97% of the total economy of Gaza and the West Bank.
