Operation intolerance: Varsity professor held for raising objections at Op Sindoor

THE arrest of Ali Khan Mahmudabad, an associate professor at Ashoka University, over a social media post questioning certain aspects of Operation Sindoor is a troubling reminder of how dissent is increasingly being treated as sedition in today’s India. The Haryana police’s actions, reportedly based on charges such as “endangering India’s unity”, mark a new low in the criminalisation of thought and free expression. Professor Mahmudabad is not a fringe voice. He is a respected academic and public intellectual, known for thoughtful engagement with India’s social and political fabric. To equate his commentary — however critical — with a threat to national unity is not only an overreach, but also a dangerous precedent that undermines democracy. Universities are supposed to be sanctuaries for debate, not extensions of the state’s surveillance machinery.