> They invited a political appointee to speak!

And it appears that is about their limit for politics at the event. They put their foot down at letting it turn into a debate club.

I suspect if Bhattacharya didn't control the purse strings somehow he wouldn't have been invited to talk politics either, I bet the organisers were gritting their teeth when they offered him a slot. And nothing short of a significant cash infusion being involved would have induced them to let him speak. This appears to be a technical conference.