New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) has issued a statement in support of varsity professor Nivedita Menon, who was recently forced to leave the podium during a talk at the Gangadhar Meher University in Odisha’s Sambalpur due to disruptions by a right-wing Hindu group.“While her talk at GMU titled ‘Feminisms for the 21st century’ was disrupted after she had spoken for about 15 minutes of her inaugural talk by a handful of people—mostly outsiders to GMU—who shouted slogans to intimidate Menon and prevented her from speaking, her online talk at Sambalpur University was not allowed to be streamed,” JNUTA said.“The disruption and intimidation of Menon by anti-academic elements is a grave assault on academic freedom,” the statement continued, adding, “it is extremely worrying that attendees were forced to leave, depriving them of the opportunity for dialogue and exchange of ideas.”According to The New Indian Express, students allegedly belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad disrupted Menon’s March 12 lecture by shouting slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Nivedita Menon Go Back’. These students were carrying a 100-metre tall Indian flag.In a statement after the incident, Menon said, “I had spoken on patriarchy and feminism for about 15 minutes when they started the disruption. This went on for about 30 minutes. Many faculty members stood with me in solidarity.”Menon is an acclaimed author and professor of political science at JNU.Disruptions of this sort and cancellations of lectures have become commonplace in today’s India. In the V-Dem Academic Freedom Index published in 2023, India is ranked in the bottom 20-30% category below countries such as Libya, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Chad, Bhutan, Ukraine, and Palestine.