There is no large-scale, direct attack on academic freedom in India

The issue of academic freedom at India’s universities has resurfaced again. This time, trouble began when Sabyasachi Das, an economist at Ashoka University, released a working paper claiming that the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used electoral manipulation to win a disproportionate share of closely contested constituencies in the 2019 general election.

Things became unpleasant immediately. Ashoka distanced itself from the paper. Critics from the right, backed by economists who questioned the paper on grounds of methodology, data and even intent, challenged its findings and called for their colleague’s head. On the other side, critics of the BJP asserted that academics had the right to intellectual freedom. Soon after, Das resigned from his position.

In a recent op-ed, “India’s Universities Lack the Freedom to Excel”, Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, correctly noted that the Indian government has for many decades put pressure on academics whose work is perceived as showing it in poor light. But the harassments have increased since 2014, when the BJP came to power and Narendra Modi became prime minister.

On several occasions, the BJP government and its supporters have targeted public institutions and so-called left-liberal academics in their attempt to control and dominate the political narrative. Institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Jamia Milia University (JMU) in New Delhi, both among India’s leading public universities, have been singled out for reprisal more than once. The Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a prestigious thinktank, has for many months faced government harassment. Individual academics perceived to be anti-BJP have also suffered at the hands of the government and its supporters.

In his article, Vaishnav also wrote that “India will not be a vishwaguru (teacher to the world), as Modi often boasts, unless both the government and university leaders credibly commit to uphold intellectual freedom”. To Vaishnav, this freedom entails permitting academics “to explore controversial subjects and to publish politically uncomfortable findings”.

The idea that intellectual freedom is a sine qua non for achieving academic excellence is a popular one. However, one has to consider the extent of its denial before taking a view on any potential impact on the quality of teaching and research.

In India’s case, the government is not targeting intellectual freedom per se. Though it is guilty of espousing or, at best, keeping silent on a variety of bogus scientific and historical claims by individuals and organisations that are supportive of its larger ideological objectives, there are no major cases of its denying academic freedom in the fields of science and technology.

Rather, BJP ministers and their supporters are largely limiting themselves to discrediting and suppressing news, research and evidence that show the government’s failings and wrongs. They are particularly sensitive to negative reports about economic and welfare issues and are alleged to be tinkering with data collection and measurement to exaggerate the government’s achievements.

An environment has also been created in which many academics are shying away from researching issues that may attract the wrong kind of attention. Universities often avoid inviting academics known to be critical of the government to avoid sanction from the government or its supporters.

Despite many such wrongs, however, my view – though it may be an unpopular one in academic circles – is that there is no large-scale, direct suppression of academic freedom in India.

Regarding the question of whether academic freedom is necessary for academic excellence, the rise of several world-class universities in Asia over the past three decades – particularly in China, where universities do not enjoy the kind of academic freedom even that those in Modi’s India do – indicates that limits on intellectual freedom cannot be the key obstacles to high performance. Indian universities suffer more from scarce resources, politicisation and poor governance than from curtailment of criticism of the government’s economic, social and political agenda and policies.

That being said, as India heads for another round of general elections in 2024, there will likely be more attacks on academics who question the government’s policies and achievements. After the elections, things may get better or worse, perhaps depending on which party comes to power.

The author has chosen to remain anonymous.