Seilen Haokip was invited, his travel paid for—yet he was barred from speaking at the last moment. Swapan Dasgupta says he only asked organizers to ‘sort it out,’ but the controversy raises deeper questions about free speech and influence.
BY PC Bureau
“Sort it out.” That was the response of Swapan Dasgupta, former Rajya Sabha member and Festival Director of the Delhi Literature Festival, when informed about protests over the participation of Kuki National Organisation (KNO) spokesperson Seilen Haokip in a panel discussion titled Great Game: Northeast on February 23.
Despite receiving an official invitation and having his travel expenses covered by the organizers, Haokip was abruptly barred from the discussion at the last minute. The decision reportedly came from military historian and panel moderator Shiv Kumar Verma, who later claimed Haokip was “trying to hijack the conversation.”
Dasgupta has since distanced himself from the controversy, stating that he had no direct involvement in Haokip’s exclusion. “The invitation had gone in my name, but I never spoke to Mr. Haokip or requested his exclusion,” Dasgupta told The Power Corridors. “Just before the panel discussion was to start, I was informed by one of the organizers about some protest over Haokip’s participation. I asked them to sort it out.”
However, in a video message, Haokip claimed that Dasgupta had personally tried to persuade him to step down due to the media backlash surrounding his presence. Dasgupta dismissed this assertion, suggesting it was a misunderstanding. “There must have been some confusion,” he said. “For sure, I was not the one who spoke to Mr. Haokip.”
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Mr. Dasgupta’s silence so far has made him an inadvertent accomplice in this entire episode, leading to a social media outburst against him from Kuki users. It’s a different matter that Swapan Dasgupta, despite being a former BJP Rajya Sabha member, is known for his independent views, often displayed in TV debates where he never espouses extremist positions from either the left or the right. As a senior columnist and longtime journalist, few believe Dasgupta would have ever endorsed a decision that goes against the tenets of free speech.
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What remains unclear is why this decision was made unilaterally by Verma, without consulting key organizers such as festival patron and Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, Sanjeev Sanyal. The invitation sent to Haokip bore the signatures of both Dasgupta and Sanyal, yet Verma acted without their apparent approval.
The incident raises pressing questions about free speech and inclusivity at such events. If a formally invited speaker can be barred at the last minute due to external pressure, what does this mean for the future of open discourse in India’s literary and academic spaces? Dasgupta may have asked the organizers to “sort it out,” but the unresolved controversy suggests the issue is far from settled.
