During the lecture, Rajiv Malhotra was constantly heckled by a small group of adults in the audience and even faced a verbal attack by a professor who asked to be anonymous. This professor … was later identified by online viewers as Professor Tyler Williams from the University of Chicago. – The Chakra
Indologist and renowned US-based author Rajiv Malhotra was recently invited to give a guest lecture at Columbia University in New York on the topic of “Hinduism in Academia”. In light of his forthcoming new book, titled, Academic Hinduism, this was a key topic for him and one that has acquired a growing interest among many intellectuals lately. There is currently a significant gap of scholarly papers and studies on Hinduism and Hinduphobia in western academia, especially vs. studies on other faiths.
During the lecture, Rajiv Malhotra was constantly heckled by a small group of adults in the audience and even faced a verbal attack by a professor who asked to be anonymous. This professor constantly tried to change the topic of the lecture by asking irrelevant questions—criticized as bigoted and Hinduphobic—towards the speaker and was later identified by online viewers as Professor Tyler Williams from the University of Chicago.
After a look at Tyler Williams’ Twitter feed, we came across many tweets with an anti-Hindu tone. Archived issues of the Times of India also state Tyler Walker Williams (a JNU grad) as being the first American student to be elected as the VP of AISA—the ultra-left student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation. AISA and the Communist Party of India are often criticized for their strong public anti-Hinduism stance and have called for the banning of the celebration of many Hindu festivals at various Indian universities. The irony is that the lecture by Rajiv Malhotra included Hinduphobia in academia and the need for a fair non-biased debate with inclusion of all perspectives.
After the video of the lecture was seen trending, many viewers were alarmed of how hateful and Hinduphobic some professors are in American universities are, and continued to write comments suggesting the University of Chicago should call for Professor Tyler Williams to resign.
One comment even read, “If this prof has so much hate & bigotry against 1 billion Hindus, then what does he teach his Hindu-American students, I mean 2nd class backwards sub-human Hindu-American students.”
Some interesting tidbits of information that can be seen in the video are:
- Hinduphobia 101: What it is, the history of how the term was coined and why it matters a great deal today.
- A live example of a Hinduphobic scholar, how they are driven by agendas and not by an open-minded spirit of inquiry.
- Live example of how Indian students are being brain-washed into sepoys that undermine fair discussions on ancient and current Indian civilization with a public agenda being to exploit India’s internal fault lines.
The entire lecture on “Hinduism in Academia” by Rajiv Malhotra at Columbia University can be viewed in this video below. If you are short on time to watch the entire video, we recommend you watch from 30m onwards. – The Chakra, 28 April 2016
Filed under: USA | Tagged: academics, columbia university, hindu, hinduism, hinduphobia, hindus, psychological warfare, rajiv malhotra, university of chicago, US academics, USA | 2 Comments »
