On the February 7, a symposium was held at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi. It was jointly organised by the IIMC administration and Religion World. The topic of the symposium was “Kumbh Symposium: Concept and Idea of Kumbh in Context to Indian Civilization and Current Projection of Kumbh by Media”. There were two panels: one to address the idea of Kumbh, and the other to address its coverage by the media.

The former panel consisted of religious and spiritual figures such as Sadhvi Jaya Bharti, spokesperson for Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan, an NGO that describes itself as a socio-spiritual non-profit, Pundrik Goswami who is described by his website as the meritorious Acharya to Madhva Gaureshvar Vaishnawas Peeth, Yog guru Arun Kumar, among others. The latter panel included former BBC journalist Arun Asthana and Hindustan Samachar journalist Prabhat Ojha. The Director General of IIMC, KG Suresh, and the Founder of Religion World Bhavya Srivastava were also present throughout the event.

Pundrik Goswami and Sadhvi Jaya Bharti on the panel (Credit: Hindustan Samachar)

The event that lasted for 3 hours was included in the official schedule of every department. Thus, it was mandatory for students to attend. We were also told that there was an “un-rigorous” and “un-scholarly” bent to the entire symposium—the event lacked the presence of academics, historians, and cultural theorists.

According to Hindustan Samachar, the symposium included screening of three documentaries: Kalpvas, Naga Sadhu, and Kya Hai Kumbh. We were also told that the content of the documentaries included feats by ascetics such as “car chalane waale baba”, “hawa mien ek haath rakhne waale baba”, “rabdi banane waale baba” and so on.

The use of a mystical and spiritual vocabulary such as “aura” and “energy fields” was highlighted without any scientific explanation of what these concepts exactly mean, sources said. The moderator of the symposium, Professor Vishnupriya Pandey, reportedly said: “Hamara dharm tark se pare hai (our religion is beyond logic),” marking an absence of reason in the ensuing discourse.

Sadhvi Jaya Bharati reportedly suggested that journalists should concern themselves more often with questions of “aatma (soul)”. In the same vein, Pundrik Goswami stated that the mythical character Hanuman can be construed as evidence for evolution. Another panelist also conflated Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence with Namaste Namaste Namoh Namah.

The sources also reported KG Suresh as lamenting the bad reputation of religion as a source of violence. He went on to cite the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as something that should make us distrustful of science. Moreover, he advised that religion itself should be a beat, and posited Zee News’ and Aaj Tak’s coverage of Kumbh as exemplary.

Credits:  Zee News

In the recent past, the IIMC campus has seen the college administration organise Jagrata, Ganesh Pooja, and yagna. In May 2017, The Caravan had reported that a seminar on “national journalism” took place at IIMC wherein one of the guests was SRP Kalluri, the former IG of Bastar, who is accused of human rights violation. Newslaundry also covered the questionable dismissal of Narendra Singh Rao, who wrote an open letter to KG Suresh, and also the suspension of Rohin Kumar for writing a report about IIMC’s political climate.

Why are such statements—that lack academic and scholarly rigor—being made at an event organised by and held at a publicly-funded institute of higher learning?

Newslaundry reached out to Director General KG Suresh for comments. Newslaundry’s questions and Suresh’s answers have been produced in full.

What is the rationale for organising such an event at an institute of journalism, as opposed to an institute of cultural studies and religion?

Religion is an important aspect of life and is covered extensively in media. If 7,000 journalists, including 700 from abroad, can register themselves to cover the Kumbh, I see no harm if a symposium on Kumbh and its projection in the media is organised in a media institute. It is the world’s largest congregation of mankind and media students should know about it. Another organisation, Religion World, led by a senior journalist proposed it and we accepted.

Was the event mandatory? If so, why?

Whenever academic programmes are organised in the campus during class hours, students are advised to participate. Today, we had Network 18 Urdu campus shoot on Muslims and Media and students were advised to attend. They are also free not to attend it.

Our sources reported that the discussion in the event lacked scholarly and journalistic rigour. There were unsubstantiated and off-hand comments made about science and religion, such as conflation of Einstein’s mass-energy equivalency and Namaste Namaste Namoh Namah, among others. Can you comment on this alleged lack of rigour?

These are individual perspectives. Many students actively participated and would disagree with this contention/allegation.

The panel was composed of spiritual figures, but no academics or scholars on mythology, philosophy, history, and cultural studies. What justifies the lack of diversity in the panel?

It was not a day-long programme but a 90-minute event including a session on media coverage. How many aspects can be covered in this much time? The idea was to give the students a glimpse into what Kumbh was and I would be happy to have similar sessions for Haj & Urs if someone approaches us with a similar proposal.

Would you say it is reasonable to construe a non-rigorous, mandatory event on religion as an imposition of certain beliefs, instead of an academic discourse on the matter apropos to a symposium?

This is ridiculous and absurd. If explaining the significance of an event which is part of the global heritage to students of media is imposition of religion, I can only pity the critics and this is blatant misreading and misrepresentation of secularism defined in our Constitution. No political/sectarian organisations were invited.