AS a part of the BJP government’s crackdown on the autonomy of educational institutes across the country, the organisers of a discussion in BPS Mahila Vishwavidyalaya in Khanpur Kalan, Haryana, were at the last minute asked to withdraw their invitation to AIDWA general secretary and Bhim Sports Awardee, Jagmati Sangwan, who was one of the main speakers in the discussion. The organisers of the discussion on Social Enterprise and Sustainable Development in India, which was to be held on May 13, conveyed to Sangwan on the night of May 12 that they have been asked by the office of Haryana chief minister Manoharlal Khattar to drop Sangwan’s name from the list of speakers. In a statement issued on May 16, various academicians of Haryana have noted that the democratic organisations of the state have taken a very strong note of the incident and have asked the Haryana government to immediately clarify its position on the matter. The state government would not be allowed to close avenues of learning and education to the secular and democratic activists and academicians in this dictatorial fashion that seems to be the mainstay of the present government. Increasingly such incidents where activists are being targeted and barred from speaking on different autonomous platforms are being reported from the BJP ruled states in the country. It should also be noted that Jagmati Sangwan had openly challenged the Haryana government’s decision to impose conditions on candidates contesting the recently held panchayat elections in the state.