Delhi: Prof attacked, student bodies trade blame

Historian S Irfan Habib faced a water and dustbin attack during a speech at Delhi University, with AISA blaming ABVP, which denied the allegations.

Noted historian and professor S Irfan Habib had a bucket of water and a dustbin thrown at him while delivering a speech at Delhi University’s north campus on Thursday, an incident that the Delhi University’s (DU) All India Students’ Association (AISA) has blamed on members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The ABVP denied the allegation.

The video of the incident was widely shared on social media websites.

Habib was speaking at the People’s Literature Festival, organised by AISA near Arts Faculty in DU’s north campus, when a bucket of water was thrown from behind a banner. A dustbin was thrown moments later. He paused briefly, then resumed speaking for another four to five minutes.

The video of the incident was widely shared on social media websites.

“I was 20 minutes into my speech, where I was talking about history and how it is being rewritten, when the bucket full of water came out of nowhere,” Habib told HT. “If someone does not agree with what I have to say, they can have a dialogue or conversation regarding it. This is certainly not the way.”

In a statement, AISA described the incident as a “deliberate, organised attack on a platform dedicated to equality, social justice, and the voices of the marginalised.” It alleged that ABVP members “attacked the stage” while Habib was speaking and “raised violent and threatening slogans”.

ABVP rejected the accusation as “completely baseless and false.” In a statement, the organisation said Left-wing student groups were spreading misleading narratives, allegedly disturbed by ABVP’s growing popularity on campus. It added that “self-proclaimed historians such as Irfan Habib” have been rejected by students and society, and that such “self-sponsored activities” aimed to defame ABVP.

University officials said they had received no formal complaint but would look into the matter.