Skip to main content

Revocation of invitation to Pakistani scholars for Urdu meet "sheer madness": Katju

By A Representative
Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has termed the decision not to allow Pakistani Urdu scholars to India the World Urdu Conference as “sheer madness”. In a Facebook post, Katju said, “Hadd ho gayi paagalpan ki… I strongly protest against the revocation of invitations to Pakistani Urdu scholars to the World Urdu Conference to be held from March 18 to 20 in Delhi in the auditorium of SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises), Lodi Road.”
Appealing to all invitees to refuse to attend the conference to protest against this ridiculous act, Katju says, “This stupidity has crossed all limits, and is an insult to Urdu, a great language born in India, which is falsely branded as a language of Muslims and a foreign language by bigots.”

Comments

TRENDING

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

If Maoist violence is illegitimate, how is Hindutva, state violence justified? Can right-wing wash off its sins?

By Swami Agnivesh* and Sandeep Pandey** There was major police action against Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varvara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on 28 August, 2018. Before this police arrested Professor Shoma Sen, Adocate Sudhir Gadling, Sudhir Dhawle, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson on 6 June. Even before this Dr. Binayak Sen, Soni Sori, Ajay TG, Professor GN Saibaba and Prashant Rahi have been arrested and all these activists have been accused of having links with Maoists.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.