JNU Professor Nivedita Menon faces cancellation demands for Udaipur lecture over Kashmir remarks

Civil society groups in Udaipur have demanded that the Rama Mehta Trust cancel a scheduled lecture by former JNU professor Nivedita Menon at Vidya Bhavan Auditorium. The groups held a press conference accusing Menon of making divisive and anti-national remarks.

Menon, who retired from Jawaharlal Nehru University in November 2025, has faced multiple controversies over her public statements on Kashmir, nationalism and India's political institutions. In 2016, she was reported to have said that "India is illegally occupying Kashmir" during a lecture on nation formation. An ABVP student leader filed a police complaint, though no conviction resulted. Menon disputed some attributed statements and defended the lecture as academic discussion.

Menon taught at JNU's School of International Studies from 2009, following positions at Lady Shri Ram College and Delhi University. Her interventions beyond conventional academic debates have repeatedly sparked outrage and demands for accountability.