In what can be seen as censorship of academic work by the representatives of world’s so-called largest democracy in Canada, an Indian diplomatic office in Canada removed a slide quoting a Booker Prize winner from a presentation on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

Ambedkar was a towering Indian scholar and social justice activist. He was also an architect of the Indian constitution.

On his birth anniversary in April, the Indian consulate in Vancouver organized an event in partnership with a local Ambedkarite group.

A U.S.-based researcher was given the task of making a presentation on Ambedkar, putting him in a global context. She confirmed to this writer that one of the slides carrying a quote of author and essayist Arundhati Roy was removed from her presentation without her consent at the last minute.

When the researcher confronted the officials, she was only told that Roy is a disputed figure.

Even the local Ambedkarite group chose to remain silent and did not intervene. The presentation was submitted to the consulate through this group.

Roy has always stood up for the rights of poor and marginalized people in India and has been vocal against any form of state violence against minorities at her own personal risk.

This is especially so under the current right-wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) regime, under whose rule intolerance has grown. Scholars and writers like Roy continue to face threats and harassment.

India is presently witnessing an era of McCarthyism in which left-wing activists and thinkers are frequently targeted both by the police and Hindu vigilante groups. Roy has been frequently branded as left-wing extremist by them.

Roy, who shot into prominence with her novel The God of Small Things that earned her the Booker Prize, is also an essayist who has travelled extensively. She's demonstrated her capability in challenging power anywhere in the world.

Roy has been facing threats for writing in defence of the people of Kashmir fighting for the right to self-determination, as well as for the Adivasis (Indigenous peoples of India) facing eviction due to the extraction industry, which is often backed by the Indian establishment.

She has pulled no punches in her lectures, media interviews, or writings while criticizing supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who have been been terrorizing minorities.

Roy has always been consistent in her criticism of Indian forces who have killed civilians with impunity and used rape as a weapon in conflict zones.

Her recent novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, is a sad story about marginalized sections of the Indian society forced to live under constant fear and insecurity.

The decision to remove a slide quoting Roy came close to the time Canada's Parliament spurned a request for honorary Canadian citizenship for Roy.

Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) collected hundreds of signatures in Metro Vancouver on petitions to grant her honorary citizenship.

In a one-line response to the petition, Peter Schiefke, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, wrote: “The decision to bestow citizenship is a decision of Parliament not that of the Government”.

This is despite the fact that the petition was addressed to the House of Commons and sponsored by none other than member of Parliament for Surrey Centre, Randeep Singh Sarai.

The petition was first launched online in October, 2018 through House of Commons website and was examined by the house dlerk of petitions. Later, IAPI members gathered signatures on hard copies, as well. These were submitted to Sarai at his constituency office in February.