St Thomas College in Pala withdrew its invitation to senior journalist Vinod K Jose just two days before he was scheduled to deliver the institution’s annual memorial lecture on democracy.
Jose, who served as executive editor of The Caravan magazine from 2009 to 2023, was informed on February 3 that the management and principal no longer wanted him on campus. The lecture was scheduled for February 5 as part of the TC Thomas Endowment Lecture, an annual event organised by the Political Science Department in memory of a former faculty member.
He learnt of his disinvitation not from the authorities directly, but from a co-speaker at the event. According to Jose, the co-speaker conveyed that he was viewed as a “controversial figure” and was apologetic about the decision.
Speaking to The Wire, Jose said he had received the invitation approximately two months earlier. The department had given him the liberty to choose both the topic and the date for his address. He had suggested two themes: the global decline of democracy and the state of Indian democracy. The department selected the latter as appropriate for the occasion.
Jose remarked on social media that the cancellation itself illustrated his intended topic. “Funnily enough, with the disinvitation, and the relief of not having to travel to Pala, the lecture has already been delivered, without me uttering a word. The state of Indian democracy stands explained,” he wrote.
He described this as his first experience of being disinvited from a public event. “I know many people have gone through such experiences often in the times we live in, but the first is always sweet, when you feel your presence itself is de-settling for a certain audience,” he stated.
St Thomas College, founded in 1950, is one of Kerala’s oldest institutions and is managed by the Catholic Diocese of Palai. It celebrated its 75th anniversary last October, with President Droupadi Murmu inaugurating the closing ceremony.
Jose linked the cancellation to what he perceives as a broader political trend in Kerala. “If not all, at least a section of the Christian society in Kerala are tiptoeing the RSS-BJP line of blocking relevant, transparent conversations at the least, and at its maximum, working to help the Hindu right get a foothold in Kerala,” he wrote, referring to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
He also criticised Christian colleges for selective censorship. While such institutions frequently raise concerns about declining student quality, Jose questioned the education being offered when managements restrict intellectual discourse.
“When a management decides to censor ideas and experiences that students should be exposed to, an integral part of social science education, why then complain about quality? We shall be rearing eggs in the name of St Thomas, as opposed to the martyr that he was of ideas,” he told The Wire.
Sources familiar with the administration told The Wire that the authorities feared Jose’s presence could jeopardise international donations. The Modi government has significantly increased cancellations of FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010) licences over the past 11 years, creating concerns among institutions dependent on foreign funding.
The Wire reached out to Sibi James, principal of St Thomas College, but received no response.
Jose is currently the director of the annual Wayanad Literature Festival. During his tenure at The Caravan, he won several national and international awards for political and investigative reporting. He is also a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and holds a PhD in sociology from Jamia Millia Islamia.
He has been involved in several high-profile investigative reports and faces ten sedition cases related to his journalism. His work has included profiles of prominent political figures and investigations into corruption scandals involving both the Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi governments.
