‘The orthodox sections of the Muslim community, especially the clergy has protested against any such attempts by the government to change their personal/community laws.’

With assault on freedom of speech coming under the spotlight during the Delhi University Ramjas College controversy in which rape and death threats against Lady Shriram College student Gurmehar Kaur adding further fuel to the raging fire that also involved the initial stopping of controversial Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid from participating in a college programme, another shocking case of denial of a fundamental right to speak has emerged – this time in Jamia Milia Islamia University in Delhi. While this time the issue does not involve students’ issues per se, crucially it nevertheless pertains to seeking to stop an individual from speaking on a topic that concerns the nation as a whole. Involved in this is none other than Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Delhi, the eloquent Shazia Ilmi, who was earlier a part of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). She was reportedly to participate in a discussion on the ongoing controversy over triple talaq, a grotesque system that allows a man to divorce his wife simply by saying the word talaq three times, that is raging in the Muslim community and even the wider nation. With the Narendra Modi government increasingly tending and looking to move towards a more women-friendly uniform civil code (UCC), the issue has acquired quite a bit of an urgency. The orthodox sections of the Muslim community, especially the clergy has protested against any such attempts by the government to change their personal/community laws. With Shazia expected to talk strongly and make a sound case out for emancipation of women and the evils of triple talaq in her address in Jamia, the organisers, reportedly pressured by the varsity, look to have done an U-turn and gagged Shazia by removing her from the list of speakers at a programme – allegedly fearing a backlash.

Unwilling to accept this blatant discrimination without demur, Shazia has protested vehemently, especially as some of the same forces that have condemned the alleged strong-arm tactics of ABVP during the Ramjas College protests are now staying mum. Speaking to India Today today, Shazia said that people are talking about the necessity of providing freedom to the likes of Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to speak freely on all the topics they wish and even taking a strong stand against threats of rape and death against Gurmehar Kaur for speaking out against the RSS backed students’ organisation, then there the same kind of ‘freedoms and opportunities should be provided to Shazia Ilmi too’.

Shazia protested the shocking stand taken by the organisers and said, “They have ensured freedom of expression is shut on leaders like me.” However, reports have indicated that there is no going back on the issue by the organisers as they are unwilling to provide any explanation for this anti-freedom stance.

Shazia also added that she has been targetted in a vile manner now for a long time. She said that when she left the AAP, and ‘joined the BJP, I got hate messages; they were terrible.” She said there was no one rushing then to her side to insist that she was exercising her Constitutionally provided rights.

According to reports that came in later, while Shazia Ilmi has accused Jamia of pressurising event organisers to remove her name from triple talaq seminar panellists’ list; the university itself has reacted to her statements by denying all charges.