The Truschke Purana: A saga in Hinduphobia March 16, 2021, 3:50 PM IST
Avatans Kumar is a linguist who writes frequently on the topics of Indic Knowledge Tradition, language, culture, and current affairs. Avatans is a JNU and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus. LESS. MORE
A few days ago, The Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, put out a statement. It was a pledge of support for one of its faculty’s “academic freedom.” The statement also denounced “vile” attacks on her faculty. The faculty in question was Audrey Truschke, an Associate Professor of South Asian History.
One cannot overstate enough the importance of Rutgers’s statement. We are witnessing an unprecedented era of ‘cancel culture.’ Scores of teachers, journalists, authors, and other professionals are losing their jobs. Their books are being withdrawn from the shelf and publication. They are being subjected to threats and abuse for even the most trivial ideological differ