Several universities and corporations have pulled out their logos from the website of the Australia India Youth Dialogue event after a number of groups and activists protested against inviting a BJP MP known for his amplified nationalism on social media, reported NRI Affairs on May 27. These protests and petitions have begun to take effect with Global Victoria (an agency of the Victorian government), KPMG and Melbourne University disassociating themselves with the AIYD now.
Partners for the 2022 Dialogue are Deakin University, the University of Sydney, Macquarie University and Monash University. Bluescope, which has established a successful global partnership in India as a joint venture with the Tata group is also an associate partner of AIYD.
However, Head of Communications at KPMG, Kristin Silva said, “It’s incorrect to say we have pulled out. We are NOT a sponsor of this year’s event. We currently don’t have a relationship with the organisation, and I believe our logo has now been removed from their website.”
University of Melbourne informed NRI Affairs that the use of their logo as a ‘Dialogue Partner’ was an ‘administrative error’ on the part of AIYD.
A group of concerned academics, global activists from the Indian Diaspora and members of various civil society groups belonging to the Australian Alliance Against Hate (AAAH), have raised serious concerns about the invitation forwarded to BJP leader Tejasvi Surya from the Australia India Youth Dialogue (AIYD).