NEW DELHI: A bucket of water and a dustbin were allegedly thrown at historian Professor Irfan Habib by a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) while he was addressing a public meeting at Delhi University on Thursday.
A video of the incident, which went viral on social media, shows water being poured on Professor Habib from behind a curtain as he addressed a gathering at the Arts Faculty. Despite the disruption, Habib continued speaking.
“This will keep happening. This is the main issue. How difficult times are, you can’t talk on the road. Forget about the campus. Despite all this, this struggle will continue,” he said after the brief interruption.
The professor was speaking at the People’s Literature Festival organised by the leftist student group All India Students’ Association (AISA). The group accused ABVP of orchestrating the attack and identified the alleged perpetrator as ABVP member Harsh Chaudhary.
In a statement, the DU unit of AISA said:
“ABVP stooped to shameless violence by disrupting a Social Justice event at the Arts Faculty, Delhi University. During Samta Diwas, a People’s Literature Festival organised by AISA, ABVP members attacked the stage while renowned historian Professor S. Irfan Habib was speaking—throwing water and even a dustbin at him, while raising violent and threatening slogans.”
The statement further alleged:
“This was a deliberate, organised attack on a platform dedicated to equality, social justice, and the voices of the marginalised. Haresh Chaudhary, who is ABVP member, pelted stones, threw water and tried to disrupt the event.”
According to AISA, students resisted the disruption and ABVP members were eventually forced to retreat.
“Their actions once again expose ABVP’s true character: intolerant of debate, hostile to social justice, and violently opposed to any assertion by marginalised communities. ABVP’s politics has never been about students—it is about silencing dissent, intimidating progressive voices, and turning universities into sites of fear rather than learning. Their attack on Samta Diwas is an attack on the very idea of a democratic university,” the student group said.
AISA asserted that it would continue its struggle against what it described as communal and anti-social justice forces.
“We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. AISA will resist, at every step, these communal, anti-social justice, and derogatory attacks by ABVP. Campuses belong to students, to dialogue, and to struggles for equality—not to violent mobs acting at the behest of authoritarian politics. Social justice will not be stopped by dustbins and slogans. The resistance will only grow stronger,” it said.
The incident has sparked political reactions, with the Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) condemning it.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said:
“Those who throw water at Professor @irfhabib are cowards. This ignorance of theirs is proof of a rotten society and a country on the path to ruin. What have these beasts done to India. In my country of peace, tranquility, harmony, and brotherhood, how much hatred they have stirred up.”
CPI general secretary D. Raja also strongly condemned the incident, calling it an “attack on Prof. Irfan Habib” and “cowardly intimidation.”
“This is not disagreement or debate, this is cowardly intimidation. Ideas must be fought with ideas, not with violence, threats or hooliganism. Such acts expose the deep insecurity of right-wing forces who fear free thinking and open discussion,” he said.
He added that university spaces across the country are increasingly becoming hostile due to what he described as narrow and intolerant ideology, where questioning and critical thought are attacked.
“There is no place for violence or intimidation in academic and public life. We stand in complete solidarity with Prof. S. Irfan Habib and reaffirm that the free flow of ideas is essential for democracy and cannot be silenced,” Raja said.
A video of the incident, which went viral on social media, shows water being poured on Professor Habib from behind a curtain as he addressed a gathering at the Arts Faculty. Despite the disruption, Habib continued speaking.
“This will keep happening. This is the main issue. How difficult times are, you can’t talk on the road. Forget about the campus. Despite all this, this struggle will continue,” he said after the brief interruption.
The professor was speaking at the People’s Literature Festival organised by the leftist student group All India Students’ Association (AISA). The group accused ABVP of orchestrating the attack and identified the alleged perpetrator as ABVP member Harsh Chaudhary.
In a statement, the DU unit of AISA said:
“ABVP stooped to shameless violence by disrupting a Social Justice event at the Arts Faculty, Delhi University. During Samta Diwas, a People’s Literature Festival organised by AISA, ABVP members attacked the stage while renowned historian Professor S. Irfan Habib was speaking—throwing water and even a dustbin at him, while raising violent and threatening slogans.”
The statement further alleged:
“This was a deliberate, organised attack on a platform dedicated to equality, social justice, and the voices of the marginalised. Haresh Chaudhary, who is ABVP member, pelted stones, threw water and tried to disrupt the event.”
According to AISA, students resisted the disruption and ABVP members were eventually forced to retreat.
“Their actions once again expose ABVP’s true character: intolerant of debate, hostile to social justice, and violently opposed to any assertion by marginalised communities. ABVP’s politics has never been about students—it is about silencing dissent, intimidating progressive voices, and turning universities into sites of fear rather than learning. Their attack on Samta Diwas is an attack on the very idea of a democratic university,” the student group said.
AISA asserted that it would continue its struggle against what it described as communal and anti-social justice forces.
“We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. AISA will resist, at every step, these communal, anti-social justice, and derogatory attacks by ABVP. Campuses belong to students, to dialogue, and to struggles for equality—not to violent mobs acting at the behest of authoritarian politics. Social justice will not be stopped by dustbins and slogans. The resistance will only grow stronger,” it said.
The incident has sparked political reactions, with the Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) condemning it.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said:
“Those who throw water at Professor @irfhabib are cowards. This ignorance of theirs is proof of a rotten society and a country on the path to ruin. What have these beasts done to India. In my country of peace, tranquility, harmony, and brotherhood, how much hatred they have stirred up.”
CPI general secretary D. Raja also strongly condemned the incident, calling it an “attack on Prof. Irfan Habib” and “cowardly intimidation.”
“This is not disagreement or debate, this is cowardly intimidation. Ideas must be fought with ideas, not with violence, threats or hooliganism. Such acts expose the deep insecurity of right-wing forces who fear free thinking and open discussion,” he said.
He added that university spaces across the country are increasingly becoming hostile due to what he described as narrow and intolerant ideology, where questioning and critical thought are attacked.
“There is no place for violence or intimidation in academic and public life. We stand in complete solidarity with Prof. S. Irfan Habib and reaffirm that the free flow of ideas is essential for democracy and cannot be silenced,” Raja said.