Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri has called to take legal action against Oxford University Union after the university allegedly delayed his speech.
Agnihotri had to speak at Oxford University about his latest film. But his address was canceled last-minute after some Pakistani-Kashmir students protested. He called out the varsity while recording his protest on social media. The director accused the varsity of ‘curbing Hindu voice after a few Kashmiri-Pakistani students protested against the event.’ Oxford Union is a student-run debating society by Oxford University. Ahmed Nawaz, a survivor of the APS School attack in Peshawar is the President-elect of the Oxford Union.
“As you are aware that I am here in Europe on a humanity tour. This tour was decided because a lot of prestigious places invited me like Cambridge University, Oxford University, the British Parliament, and a lot of places in Germany and the Netherland. But yesterday, a very strange thing happened. When I reached Cambridge University, at the last minute, I was told that we cannot video record the event,” Agnihotri shared in a video message on Twitter.
He added, “Now, this is a 100% curbing of freedom of expression. This happened because a few Pakistani and Kashmiri Muslim students protested against it. These are genocide denials, they are fascists. Their logic is, perhaps, what they write on social media that I support a democratically elected Government of India.”
Read more: Indian movie, ‘The Kashmir Files’ condemned for stealing Faiz’s poem
Agnihotri went on to add, “This is the same university where Subhash Chandra Bose studied but recently on his 150th birth anniversary Bose was called a fascist.”
IMPORTANT:
Yet another Hindu voice is curbed at HINDUPHOBIC @OxfordUnion.They have cancelled me. In reality, they cancelled Hindu Genocide & Hindu students who are a minority at Oxford Univ. The president elect is a Paksitani.
Pl share & support me in this most difficult fight. pic.twitter.com/4mGqwjNmoB— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) May 31, 2022
Talking about the Oxford event, the director said, “Now another strange thing happened. Today I was supposed to speak at Oxford University because Oxford Union invited me a long time ago. It was all confirmed via emails, but just a few hours before they said, ‘Sorry we made a mistake, there was a double-booking and we cannot host you today.’ And without even asking me, they changed the date to July 1, when no student would be there, and there is no point in doing an event.”
In his controversial statement, he said: “They are not canceling me, they are canceling the genocide and they are canceling the Hindus. As if killing thousand of Kashmiri Hindus was not Hinduphobic but making a film on the truth is Islamophobic.”
Agnihotri said that the same university has hosted dictators and fascists including Bhutto’s son and many African radical extremists. “ I am filing a lawsuit against them. I am going to claim all the damages. Please support me and join me,” he said.