In light of the recent spate of killings of noted writers and intellectuals M. M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare, and Narendra Dabholkar, and the Dadri lynching incident followed by forced nation-wide attempts at cultural policing, we feel that the current political dispensation headed by the Prime Minister is mandating an atmosphere of violence and fear.
The negligible response of the government to these growing incidents across the country, as also its silence at times of extreme distress, has provided tacit support to activities by those no longer at the ‘fringe’ but now occupying the mainstream. The scant condemnation accorded to these incidents by the government amounts to abstention from constitutional responsibility, and encouragement to greater hostility and aggression, especially against religious and caste minorities. The resolute silence of the political leadership at the Centre puts in question its own complicity in these events.
The very public culture of creative-critical freedom and the right to expression of dissent in the country are rapidly eroding, leaving in their place an order of intolerance and bigotry. The commitment to intellectual inquiry is being institutionally delegitimised through steady cuts in education subsidies — including research grants and fellowships for scholars — even as protesting students are set upon by well-armed policemen. Centres and institutions of higher learning are being handed over to those who qualify only through their allegiance to ruling-party agendas. While conditions were not exactly pristine prior to May 2014, the climate of aggressive intolerance we are now witnessing seems to have been aggravated through the deliberate indifference and disengagement of those currently in power.
The obvious attempts at fear mongering, intimidating people into accepting undemocratic and inequitable ideas, and at imposing totalitarian, narrow, prejudiced and intolerant versions of ‘nation-hood’ and ‘national interest’ are designed to impede progressive thought and erode fundamental rights. Such impositions especially in matters of food, cultural practices and beliefs, are reprehensible and absolutely antithetical to the progressive course charted out in the Constitution.
We, the undersigned — as teachers and academics engaged in the pursuit of critical learning — wish to register our alarm and protest against the escalating incidents of violence and terror on targeted communities and citizens.
1. Rina Ramdev (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
2. Sandhya Devesan Nambiar (Jesus and Mary College, DU)
3. Debaditya Bhattacharya (Nivedita College, University of Calcutta)
4. Abhijit Kundu (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
5. Tapan Basu (Delhi University)
6. Vinita Chandra (Ramjas College, DU)
7. Mihir Pandey (Ramjas College, DU)
8. Chitra Joshi (IP College, DU)
9. Janaki Nair (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
10. Moinak Biswas (Jadavpur University)
11. V. Sanil (IIT-Delhi)
12. Sharmila Purkayastha (Miranda House, DU)
13. Mukul Mangalik (Ramjas College, DU)
14. Nabaneeta Dev Sen (Retd., Jadavpur University)
15. Rashmi Doraiswamy (JamiaMilliaIslamia)
16. Rosinka Chadhuri, CSSSC
17. Supriya Chaudhuri (Jadavpur University, Emerita)
18. AnandaLal (Jadavpur University)
19. DebjaniSengupta (IP College, DU)
20. Abha Dev Habib (Miranda House, DU)
21. Vebhuti Duggal (JNU)
22. Aatreyee Ghosh (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
23. Padma Suresh (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
24. Keval Arora (Kirori Mal College, DU)
25. Vidya Das Arora (Gargi College, DU)
26. Saikat Ghosh (SGTB Khalsa College, DU)
27. RoopaDhawan (Ramjas College, DU)
28. Nandini Dutta (Miranda House, DU)
29. T P Sabitha (Hansraj College, DU)
30. Monami Basu (Kamala Nehru College, DU)
31. Bindu Menon (Lady Shri Ram College, DU)
32. Franson Manjali (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
33. Aswathy Senan (Delhi University)
34. Mithuraj Dhusia (Hansraj College, DU)
35. RekhaBasu (Hindu College, DU)
36. Rudrashish Chakraborty (Kirori Mal College, DU)
37. Tanvir Aeijaz (Ramjas College, DU)
38. Rakesh Ranjan (Shri Ram College of Commerce, DU)
39. Sachin Narayanan (Dyal Singh College, DU)
40. Naveen Gaur (Dyal Singh College, DU)
41. Nilofer Kaul (Hansraj College, DU)
42. Rita Sinha (Janki Devi Memorial College, DU)
43. Giti Chandra (St. Stephen’s College, DU)
44. Karen Gabriel (St. Stephen’s College, DU)
45. P K Vijayan (Hindu College, DU)
46. Soumana Biswas (University of Calcutta)
47. Lakshmi Menon (NSS College for Women, Trivandrum)
48. Rohith P (DeenDayalUpadhyaya College, DU)
49. Sanam Khanna (Kamala Nehru College, DU)
50. BiswajitMohanty (Deshbandhu College, DU)
51. Ashwini Deshpande (Delhi School of Economics)
52. Lakshmi Subramanian (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta)
53. Manas Ray (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta)
54. Rajarshi Dasgupta (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
55. Ashley N P (St. Stephen’s College, DU)
56. NabanipaBhattacharjee (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
57. Ratna Raman (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
58. Nalini Nayak (Retd., PGDAV Morning College, DU)
59. Pulin Nayak (Retd., Delhi School of Economics)
60. Sunalini Kumar (Lady Shri Ram College, DU)
61. Mitali Mishra (Lady Shri Ram College, DU)
62. Richa (Central University of South Bihar)
63. Ahmer Anwer (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
64. Nandita Narain (St. Stephen’s College, DU)
65. Trina Nileena Banerjee (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta)
66. Surajit Mukhopadhyay (West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences)
67. Uttama Ray (University of Calcutta)
68. Prakash Joshi (HarisinghGour Central University)
69. Rajeev Kunwar (Dyal Singh College, DU)
70. Pankaj Jha (Lady Shri Ram College, DU)
71. Meera Sagar (Miranda House, DU)
72. Anuradha Marwah (Zakir Husain College, DU)
73. Meenakshi Malhotra (Hansraj College, DU)
74. Saumyajit Bhattacharya (Kirori Mal College, DU)
75. V S Dixit (Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, DU)
76. Susan George (Jesus and Mary College, DU)
77. Jennifer Monteiro (Jesus and Mary College, DU)
78. Sugandha Sehgal (Jesus and Mary College, DU)
79. Renny Thomas (Jesus and Mary College, DU)
80. Brahma Prakash (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
81. Sudakshina Ghosh (Nivedita College, University of Calcutta)
82. Anup Chatterjee
83. Rashmi Pant (Indraprastha College for Women, DU)
84. Vibhas Verma (Deshbandhu College, DU)
85. Nivedita Sen (Hansraj College, DU)
86. Rupleena Bose (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
87. RajanKurai Krishnan (Ambedkar University, Delhi)
88. Rajiv Jha (Shri Ram College of Commerce, DU)
89. G. Arunima (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
90. Ranjani Mazumdar (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
91. Hilal Ahmed (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi)
92. Jayati Gupta (Tagore National Fellow)
93. Poushali Das (Nivedita College, University of Calcutta)
94. Yogesh Pratap Shekhar (Central University of South Bihar)
95. Shanker Dutt (Patna University)
96. Saswat S. Das (IIT-Kharagpur)
97. Taisha Abraham (Jesus and Mary College, DU)
98. KunalChattopadhyay (Jadavpur University)
99. Sajni Mukherji (Retd., Jadavpur University)
100. Ipshita Chanda (Jadavpur University)
101. Maroona Murmu (Jadavpur University)
102. Sumit Kumar Barua (Jadavpur University)
103. Aditi Chatterjee (La Martiniere School, Kolkata)
104. Somjyoti Mridha (NEHU, Shillong)
105. Moggallan Bharti (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
106. Benil Biswas (Ambedkar University, Delhi)
107. Vanessa Chisti (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
108. Renu Arora (Miranda House, DU)
109. Veena Hariharan (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
110. Rupleena Bose (Sri Venkateswara College, DU)
111. Ravikant (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi)
112. Nidhi Varma (Ambedkar University, Delhi)
113. Alok Rai (Retd., Delhi University)
114. K Satchidanandan (Retd., Calicut University, Kerala)
115. Udaya Kumar (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
116. Antara Datta (Janaki Devi DU)
117. Sumangala Damodaran (Ambedkar University, Delhi)
118. Nitoo Das (IP College Delhi University)
119. Pallavi Rastogi (Louisiana State University, US)
120. Mita Bose (IP CollegeDelhi University)
121. Krishna Lahiri Majumdar (Retd., Delhi University)
122. B. Rajeevan (Retd., Kerala University)
123. Savitri Rajeevan (Sankaracharya University, Kalady, Kerala)
124. Ankita Pandey (IP College, DU)
125. Madan Gopal Singh (Delhi University)
126. Prashant Kumar (Central University of South Bihar)
127. Samir Karmakar (Jadavpur University)
128. Sutapa Majumdar (SavitribhaiPhule Pune University)
129. Soma Marik (Ramakrishna Sarada Mission Vivekananda Vidyabhavan)
130. Avijit Kar (Jadavpur University)
131. Debarchana Sarkar (Jadavpur University)
132. Anindya Sengupta (Jadavpur University)
133. Abhijit Gupta (Jadavpur University)
134. Vivekananda Mukherjee (Jadavpur University)
135. Epsita Halder (Jadavpur University)
136. Nandini Saha (Jadavpur University)
137. Abhijit Chanda (Jadavpur University)
138. Pritha Chakrabarti (English and Foreign Languages University)
139. Madhvi Zutshi (SGTB Khalsa College, DU)
140. N A Jacob (Ramjas College, DU)
141. Deepika Tandon (Miranda House, DU)
142. Gourab Ghosh (GD Goenka University, Haryana)
143. Sonali Duttaroy (Delhi University)
144. Manidipa Sen (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
145. Oeendrila Lahiri (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
146. Swati Moitra (Delhi University)
147. Ira Bhaskar (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
148. Ranjan Ghosh (University of North Bengal)
149. Sujay Thakur (SGTB Khalsa College, DU)
150. Nandini Chandra (Delhi University)
151. AnuradhaBawa (College of Vocational Studies, DU)
152. Sudeshna Banerjee (Jadavpur University)
153. Suchetana Chattopadhyay (Jadavpur University)
154. Purushottam Bhattacharya (Jadavpur University)
155. Sucheta Bhattacharya (Jadavpur University)
156. Partha Pratim Basu (Jadavpur University)
157. Loiya Leima Oinam (Ramjas College, DU)
158. Susan Vishvananathan (JNU)
159. Avishek Parui (IIT Guwahati)
160. Sujata Tarafdar (Jadavpur University)
161. Biswadip Das (Jadavpur University)
162. Amit Bhattacharya ( Jadavpur University)
163. Abhijit Roy (Jadavpur University)
164. Tilottoma Mukherjee (Jadavpur University)
165. Partha Pritam Basu (Jadavpur University)
166. Bijoya Goswami (Jadavpur University)
167. Samantak Das (Jadavpur University)
168. Sabina Yasmin Rahman (JNU)
169. Nivedita Ghosh (Jesus and Mary College, DU)
170. Rajendra Parihar (Ramjas College, DU)
171. Kiran Keshavmurthy (CSSSC)
172. Sumana Roy (West Bengal Education Service)
173. Shruti Sareen (Delhi University)
174. Vipin Krishna (JNU)
175. Kamlanand Jha (Central University of South Bihar)
176. Shivani Kapoor (JNU)
177. Anita Cherian (Indraprastha College for Women)
178. Deeba Zafir (Laxmibai College DU)
179. Debraj Mookerjee (Ramjas College, DU)
180. Anup Dhar (Ambedkar University)
181. Anirban Das (CSSSC)
182. Emon Nandi (Calcutta University)
183. Banibrata Mahanta (BHU)
184. Rimli Bhattacharya (Delhi University)
185. Shyista A Khan (Dyal Singh College DU)
186. Anshuman Singh (Dyal Singh College DU)
187. Viraj Kafle (Dyal Singh College DU)
188. Sunil Kumar Mandiwal (Dyal Singh College DU)
189. Pema Yolmo (Dyal Singh College DU)
190. Adv. Shabana Khan
191. Vqueeram Aditya (Ambedkar University)
192. SavithriRajeevan
193. Javed Mallick (Retd DU)
194. Neeraj Mallick(Retd DU)
195. Keshab Bhattacharya (Jadavpur University)
196. Rochona Das (Jadavpur University)AkhilKatyal (Shiv Nadar University)
197. DeepthaAchar (MS University, Baroda)
198. Dilip Simeon (Retd. Ramjas college DU)
199. Rongili Biswas (Kolkatta University)
200. Sanjoy Kumar Saha (Jadavpur University
201. SanghitaSen (Kalyani College, W Bengal)
202. Kavita Panjabi (Jadavpur University)
203. IndraniMukherji (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
204. Harriet Raghunathan (Retd JMC, DU)
205. Pritha Chakrabarti (EFL University)
206. Ketaki Chowkhani (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)
207. Neha Dhingra (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)
208. Akhil Katyal (Shiv Nadar University)
209. Sameer Chopra (Ashoka University)
210. William Mazzarella (University of Chicago)
211. Amit Rahul Baishya (University of Oklahoma)
212. Britta Ohm (University of Bern)
213. NiharikaDinkar (Boise State University)
214. Pritam Singh (Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK)
215. Ari Sitas (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
216. RashmiSadana (Columbia University, New York)
217. Nitasha Kaul (University of Westminster, London)
218. Sruthi Muraleedharan (SOAS, University of London)
219. Nina Morgan (Kennesaw State University, Georgia USA)
220. Asun Varela Lopez (Complutense University, Madrid)
221. Prashant Keshavmurthy (Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University)
222. Sudhir Chandra (Institute of Advanced Studies, Nantes)
223. Allison Busch (Columbia University)
224. Parichay Patra (Monash University)
225. Laetitia Zecchini (CNRS, Paris)
226. Brij Tankha (Institute of Chinese Studies)
227. Jayeeta Sharma (University of Toronto, Canada)
228. Christophe Jaffrelot(King’s College London)
229. Gyanendra Pandey (Emory University)
230. Annie Montaut (EHESS Paris)
231. Ines G. Zupanov (EHESS Paris)
