Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh on Tuesday slammed author Arundhati Roy, saying her comments are "pure definition of hate speech".
The VC was speaking at a programme on 'Hate Speech and Electoral Politics in India' held at the university's Faculty of Law.
Arundhati Roy could not be reached for comment.
Quoting from one of Roy's old videos, Singh said, "The Indian state, from the moment it became a sovereign state, from the moment it shook off the shackles of colonialism, it became a colonial state and it has waged war since 1947 in Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland, Telangana, Punjab, Goa, Hyderabad. If you look at it, it is like a State that has been perpetually at war and a military war.
"Deploying the army against its own people, the State of Pakistan has not deployed its army against its own people, in the way the democratic Indian state has. If you look at who these people are that the Indian state chose to fight: in all Northeastern states, they were tribal people; in Kashmir, it was Muslims; in Telangana, it was tribal people; in Hyderabad, it was Muslims; in Goa, it was Christians; in Punjab, it was Sikhs. So, you see this perpetual upper caste Hindu State perpetually at war," Singh quoted Roy as saying.
Speaking further, Singh called it hate speech.
The VC said, "This is a pure definition of hate speech and Arundhati Roy and all intellectual people should avoid making such statements. This is not in favour of them or the country, and such statements pollute children's and citizens' minds, because these statements are made from a very selective perspective.
"Moreover, she is saying Pakistan is better than us in this respect. I am not going into that debate but I just wanted to point out an example of hate speech." The vice chancellor also spoke about hate speech in the context of electoral politics, saying that politicians resort to it because of public attitudes.
"Politicians think that if he makes hate speech, he will get more votes. Is it their fault who make hate speech or ours? "We all should keep in mind that politicians are the most smart people in the country, they know the pulse of the people. We are more at fault in this case than politicians. If politicians will know that they will not get votes by making hate speech than they will stop making such speeches," he said.
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