Swamy on Harvard row: 'It is a dangerous principle'

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said Harvard University should take a re-look at its decision to remove courses taught by him, while maintaining that it should have sought his comments before reaching a conclusion.

In his reaction to the University's decision to remove courses taught by him, terming as "reprehensible" his views in a controversial piece he wrote on Islamic terrorism, Swamy said the University should have first sought his comment as that is a normal procedure and it had not been done.

"The article was written for a Mumbai newspaper and I teach economics in Harvard. I would assume that they would have sent their petition to me asking for my comments, which is a normal procedure. But they have not done that," he claimed.

Swamy said the decision was a "dangerous one" as it makes a person teaching in Harvard accountable for what he writes on any subject anywhere in the world.

"If tomorrow anyone writes on India and writes rubbish about India, they come here, then they can be punished here for what they write in America. That would be a dangerous principle. Harvard should look at it," he said.