Vivek Agnihotri threatens to sue Oxford Union for cancelling his event
May 31, 2022
New Delhi [India], May 31 : Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, who is currently in Europe on a humanity tour, on Tuesday accused the Oxford Union of "Hinduphobia" and threatened to file a lawsuit against them for cancelling his event.
In a video message, The Kashmir Files director shared an incident that took place, in which he mentioned that the 'Hindu voice' is being curbed.
"Yet another Hindu voice is curbed at HINDUPHOBIC Oxford Union. They have cancelled me. In reality, they cancelled Hindu Genocide and Hindu students who are a minority at Oxford Univ. The president-elect is a Pakistani. Please share and support me in this most difficult fight," The Kashmir Files director tweeted along with the video.
The filmmaker said that he visited Cambridge University, where he was informed at the last minute that he will not be allowed to video record the event.
He claimed that his 'freedom of expression' was being curbed and stated that this step was taken as a few Pakistani and Kashmiri Muslim students protested.
"As you are aware that I am here in Europe on a humanity tour. This tour was decided because lot of prestigious places invited me like Cambridge University, Oxford University, the British Parliament and a lot of places in Germany and the Netherland. But yesterday, a very strange thing happened. When I reached Cambridge University, at the last minute, I was told that we cannot video record the event. Now, this is a 100 per cent curbing of freedom of expression. This happened because a few Pakistani and Kashmiri Muslim students protested against it. These are genocide denials, they are fascists. This is perhaps because I support a democratically elected Government of India," he said in a video message.
He further said that this is the same university where Subhash Chandra Bose studied, but recently on his 150th birth anniversary, the event was also cancelled they said Bose is a fascist.
The Filmmaker further claimed that he was meant to head to Oxford University as he was earlier invited by the Oxford Union. However, just before his arrival, he was informed that there had been a double booking, and his event had been postponed to July 1.
"Now another strange thing happened. Today I was supposed to speak at Oxford University because Oxford Union invited me a long time ago. It was all confirmed via emails, but just a few hours before they said, 'Sorry we made a mistake, there was a double-booking and we cannot host you today.' And without even asking me, they changed the date to July 1, when no student would be there, and there is no point in doing an event," he said.
He also mentioned that Hindus are a minority group at Oxford University, and termed the incident 'oppression of the minority'.
He asked "are they cancelling me" and said "they want to cancel the democratically elected Government of India."
"They want to label us as fascists and Islamophobic. As if killing thousands of Kashmiri Hindus was not Hinduphobic, but the film on the truth is Islamophobic. They are not cancelling me, they are cancelling the genocide and Hindus. You have to understand, Hindus are a minority in Oxford University, and this is the oppression of the minority," he said.
He also slammed Oxford University for "hosting dictators and fascists including Bhutto's son and many African radical extremists."
Agnihotri further sought the support of the people as he is going to file a lawsuit against the Oxford Union.
"So please help me in this cause. I am filing a lawsuit against them. I am going to claim all the damages. Please support me and join me," he added.
