Academics from top-notch Indian universities have joined a global petition boycotting the United States in the wake of Donald Trump’s immigration ban on seven majorly Muslim countries, even as the Narendra Modi government continues to stay mum on America’s ban that many foreign governments have criticized for being discriminatory.
According to a report in The Telegraph, more than 50 researchers and academics from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IIT-D), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Delhi and Pune universities, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Milia Islamia are backing the boycott to express solidarity with their peers from countries on the travel ban list.
The report also noted that Indian academics in overseas universities, including those in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and even the United States among others, are part of this international moral effort against Trump administration’s travel ban.
The Calcutta-based English daily quoted a signatory to the petition as saying, “I see this as the beginning of a longer campaign we may need to fight.”
“Any debate in academic conferences there, in these circumstances, will necessarily be distorted from an academic point of view,” Mary John, a professor at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS) was quoted as saying.
American universities have enjoyed immense popularity among international students and researchers for fostering a culture of innovation and having state-of-the-art technology. Trump’s election to the White House have however raised concerns about the integrity of the American education system. The president’s critics say that he may encourage a more conservative line of thought in education, in contrast to the liberal point of view that US universities have championed over the years.
In the wake of Trump’s travel ban, there have also been calls by the international academic community to look for alternate international venues to host conferences that often take place in the US.
Trump’s travel ban has temporarily been suspended after a court in Seattle struck it down. The Trump administration has appealed the suspension, and is likely to prevail eventually in its effort to reinstate the ban. Thousands and thousands of Muslim-Americans with background from the seven banned countries have been been affected by Trump’s ban.
(Source: Youtube/Progress USA)
Many US allies, including governments of Germany, France and Canada among others, have come came down heavily of the Trump administration travel ban policy. India, home to world’s third largest Muslim population, however, has remained conspicuously silent about America’s new policy, which many human rights activists have termed as “Muslim ban”
