Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, in a statement on Dec. 14 applauded Harvard University for dropping courses taught by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy over his exercise of hate-speech and demonstration of intolerance and bigotry, in an article for an Indian publication named DNA. In the article published in DNA on Jul 16, 2011, Dr. Swamy spewed venom against Indian Muslims, by attempting to associate the entire Muslim population with acts of terror and calling for restraints on their freedom of religion, besides calling for anti-Constitutional measures such as declaring India a “Hindu Rashtra.” The article also called for the destruction of 300 mosques as retribution for what Dr. Swamy perceives are goals of “Islamic” terrorism.
“Mr. Swamy’s extremist and hate-filled views can be gauged from the fact that he has proposed various methods of profiling an entire population of 150 million Indian Muslims as a solution to the problem of terrorism in India,” said IAMC President Shaheen Khateeb, in a letter addressed to Harvard President Dr. Drew Faust, expressing IAMC’s profound appreciation for Harvard’s decision to drop courses taught by Dr. Swamy. “History bears witness that when such ideologies of hate have been allowed to be propagated without corrective action it has led us to confront various evils like slavery, genocide, systematic segregation, extreme poverty, public humiliation and racism,” the letter added.
While Dr. Swamy is entitled to his bigoted views, in his individual capacity, his public pronouncements of hate against the Muslim population, and attempts to sow the seeds of strife and discord among people of different faiths cannot be allowed to go unchecked. Harvard’s decision to drop courses by Dr. Swamy, is in keeping with Harvard’s standing as an institution of higher learning where the faculty and students are held to high standards of responsible public behaviour, the statement said.