New Delhi —

One of India’s most prestigious universities has been accused of compromising its academic freedom by cancelling a seminar on democracy the same day it issued a directive to staff to promote a summit on cow welfare.

Cows are revered as sacred by many Hindus, but critics say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using India’s devotion to the bovine as a political tool to elevate its Hindu nationalist agenda.

Professors and students at Delhi University, long seen as bulwark of free speech in the country, say the directive is another example of the pressures placed on educational institutions by the Modi government as it pushes Hinduism in a democracy founded on secular values.

The “promotion of this dubious event juxtaposed with the suppression of a critical social science seminar, reveals a clear bias against scientific temper,” said the Democratic Teachers Front, an organization that advocates for the rights and interests of students and teachers, in a statement.

The canceled seminar, titled “Land, Property and Democratic Rights” was part of a lecture series that has been running at Delhi University for six decades.

Notice of the administration’s decision to cancel the October 31 event came the same day as a directive from the Dean of Colleges, Balaram Pani, to principals encouraging students and faculty members to attend the “National Godhan (cow herd)