The Department of B.A. Programme at Lady Shri Ram College invited retired diplomat Dr. Deepak Vohra for a speaker session focused on India’s progress and future. Despite high expectations, the event sparked significant criticism due to Vohra’s divisive and bigoted jokes, causing widespread unrest on the college campus.

On Thursday, 11th September, the Department of B.A. Programme at Lady Shri Ram College hosted Ambassador Dr. Deepak Vohra, a retired Indian diplomat with postings in Armenia, Poland, and Sudan. Invited to deliver the inaugural major speaker session of the academic year, Dr. Vohra spoke on the topic “Unstoppable India 2047.” The event held special significance on campus, with the auditorium booked and students’ schedules officially adjusted to encourage maximum attendance, a rare measure for speaker sessions.

For many, this signaled that the event was meant to be an intellectually significant moment, particularly for UPSC aspirants and students interested in public policy and diplomacy. Dr. Vohra is a well-known public figure, often appearing on TED Talks, interviews with media outlets and sessions on college campuses, and his views are widely accessible online.

The auditorium was jam-packed with attendees exceeding the capacity of 780 when he arrived. Ambassador Vohra adopted a highly informal persona, immediately engaging the audience with humour. His presentation included frequent plugs of Bollywood songs that acted as punchlines. The audience, for the most part, was receptive and applauding, up until one his first ‘jokes,’ where he said to the audience at large, “Mera naam Muhammad Deepak hai, abhi toh ek hi (biwi) hai, main chaar rakh sakta hoon [My name is Mohammed Deepak, and while I have only one (wife) right now, I can keep four].” 

On a similar religiously-charged note, Vohra proceeded to clarify that he considered Hindu religious texts Ramayana and Mahabharata as history, not mythology; adding that Lord Krishna from the Mahabharata was ‘the greatest diplomat in human history.’ For many attendees, the final nail in the coffin was his division of the Indian independence into four stages, with the fourth one being ‘the independence of the soul’ after the formation of the Ram Mandir, the hindu temple in Ayodhya endorsed by the incumbent leadership that was built following the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

This string of controversial remarks was followed by another that centred on gender, where he asked the female-only populace of the college’s student body to tell their children to protect the nation “when they become wives and mothers,” and referred to the country in it’s yesteryears using words like ‘napunsak (impotent)’. His speech narrowed in on the military, economic and infrastructure features that shows India’ s superiority over other countries like China (whose military was referred to using slurs like ‘Ch*ng Ch*ng’ that poked fun at their language). While some students hailed him as a ‘true patriot’ and called the session ‘fun and energizing,’ after it ended, many others felt differently.

Vohra presented an overwhelmingly triumphant, jingoistic and exceptionally optimistic view of India that deviated a lot from the current state of things and bordered on delusional chest-thumping. Critical perspectives or difficulties within India were not addressed; instead, the narrative focused solely on achievements and overcoming ‘external adversaries.’ ”

The session has since garnered significant criticism from the student body, with many expressing disappointment with the organising committee and the overall response from students and faculty. Another student that DU Beat approached stated:

To reduce the entire populace of a women’s college to roles in relation to men is simply unacceptable. He openly proclaimed support for the current Prime Minister, and after cracking a slew of islamophobic jokes, asked the audience members whether the government can be anti-Muslim if eight Muslim countries have given Modi their highest honour. The fact that there was a crowd of students and faculty who were present and cheering for misogynistic, racist and Islamophobic jokes and perceived his propaganda as a sort of patriotic act is just disheartening to see. Are there any values we can say our college stands for anymore?”

Students also pointed out that last year, when renowned writer and political scientist Nivedita Menon, a former professor of Political Science at Lady Shri Ram College was scheduled to have a session in the college, she was denied entry due to her political views, with the college citing its apolitical stance. Yet, Vohra was allowed to pledge allegiance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with little interference. A student added:

Our private group chats are exploding. This seems like a breaking point for everything that has been going on throughout this year. The overt expression of Hindutva rhetoric and misogynistic language being celebrated is disturbing to many of us. We demand action, and we demand it now.”

The organizing committee has been criticised for not conducting a thorough background check and for not allowing walkouts during the session as a form of silent protest. Since the outrage, one of the members of the committee shared that they have been told not to share photos or videos of the session, and access to the recording has also been removed.

An official statement has not yet been released by the the College Administration, Students’ Union, or the Department of B.A. Programme. There were discussions about a more formal general body meeting to be held in the future, but all have declined to comment any further.

The speaker announcement post for this session phrased it as an opportunity to ‘hear from one of India’s most renowned diplomats on what the next century of our nation will look like.’ If this was a preview of that future, then it seems that the students of LSR are asking: whose century, whose nation, and at what cost?

Image Credits: Anonymous

Anonymous
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