Professor Bipan Chandra was not only one of India’s foremost historians, but also one of the most uncompromising defenders of the secular and democratic cause in this country. As Chairman of the National Book Trust (NBT), he breathed a new life into it.
We are shocked to learn that the very National Book Trust over which he presided, has revoked the reprint order for the Hindi version of his book, Communalism: A Primer; it is reported that the English and Urdu versions of the book are also being withdrawn.
Such action on part of the NBT is a gross violation of freedom of views, and amounts in effect to the assumption that communalism is now the official doctrine of the country and that no criticism of it or its practitioners can be permitted.
As academics and citizens, we fear that such actions as that of the NBT in respect of Bipan Chandra’s book portend the imposition of an authoritarian regime. We, therefore, demand that the NBT repeal its ban on Communalism: A Primer, and continue to reprint and publish it.
Signatories
Irfan Habib, AMU, Aligarh
Romila Thapar, JNU, New Delhi
D.N. Jha, Delhi University (DU)
Prabhat Patnaik, JNU
K.N. Panikkar, JNU
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, JNU
J.V.Naik, Bombay University
Ravi Ahuja, Gottingen, Germany
Shireen Moosvi, AMU
Jane Ohlmeyer, Trinity College, Dublin
Rajan Gurukkal, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam
Kesavan Veluthat, DU
Sukhmani Bal Riar, Punjab University, Chandigarh
Ajay Patnaik, JNU
Shantha Sinha, HCU
Erhan Dogan, Turkey
Arjun Dev, NCERT
V Krishna Ananth, Sikkim Central University
Mridula Mukherjee, JNU
Salil Misra, Ambedkar University, AU
Vivan Sundaram
C.P.Chandrasekhar, JNU
Harsh Mander, Centre for Equity Studies
Sajal Nag, Assam University, Silchar
Aditya Mukherjee JNU
K.L. Tuteja (IIAS, Shimla)
Bhupendra Yadav, Azim Premji University, APU
Sarvani Gooptu, Netaji Institue for Asian Studies
Gopinath Ravindran, Jamia Millia Islamia
Sebastian Joseph, UCC, Kerala
Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad
Peter Pozefsky, Wooster College, USA
Thierry Costanzo, Strasbourg University, France
Geeta Kapur
Sohail Hashmi
Indu Chandrashekhar, Tulika Press
Abhijit Sarkar, Oxford
Alex Tickell, Open University, Walton Hall, UK
Ania Loomba, Univ of Pennsylvania, USA
Iqtidar Alam Khan, AMU
Ishrat Alam, AMU
Ramesh Rawat, AMU
Nadeem Rezavi, AMU
Pradeep K. Saxena, AMU
Jawed Akhtar, AMU
T. N. Satheesan, AMU
Kranti Pal, AMU
Shamim Akhtar, AMU
Vijay Bisaria, AMU
Ved Prakash, AMU
Indira Arjun Dev, NCERT
Himanshu, JNU
Udaya Kumar, JNU
Saradindu Bhaduri, JNU
Mohan Rao, JNU
Jayati Ghosh, JNU
Ayesha Kidwai, JNU
Rajat Datta, JNU
Surajit Das, JNU
P. Billimale, JNU
Neeladri Bhattacharya, JNU
KJ Mukherjee, JNU
Kunal Chakrabarti, JNU
Rakesh Batabyal, JNU
Dhruv Rainz, JNU
Hemant Adlakha, JNU
Sucheta Mahajan, JNU
Bhagwan Josh, JNU
Jyoti Atwal, JNU
Urmimala Sarkar, JNU
Supriya Varma, JNU
Rajan Kumar, JNU
Ira Bhaskar, JNU
R Mahalakshmi, JNU
Deepak Kumar, JNU
V V Krishna, JNU
Surajit Mazumdar, JNU
Ranjani Mazumdar, JNU
Brahma Prakash, JNU
Sangeeta Dasgupta, JNU
Biswajit Dhar, JNU
Nivedita Menon, JNU
Shukla Sawant, JNU
Susan Vishwanathan, JNU
Burton Cleetus, JNU
Najaf Haider, JNU
Anvinash, JNU
Rohit, JNU
K.M. Shrimali, DU
Amar Farooqui, DU
B.P. Sahu, DU
Biswamoy Pati, DU
Prabhu Mohapatra, DU
Yasser Arafat, DU
Shamsul Islam, DU
Shubhra Chakrabarti, DU
Shobhana Warrier, DU
Maya John, DU
Christhu Doss, DU
Richa Raj, DU
Saurabh Bajpai, DU
Amita Paliwal, DU
Amit K. Suman , DU
Ranjana Das, DU
Gulzar Hussain, DU
Rajesh, DU
V.K.Dixit, DU
Mukul Chaturvedi, DU
Vibha Iyer, DU
Sangeeta Kumari, DU
Tanu Parashar, DU
Shams Tabrez, DU
Gagan Preet Singh, DU
Alok Bajpai, JNU
Shashi Bhushan Deo,JNU
Akanksha Kumar, JNU
Sukanya Kanarally, JNU
Kashmir Dhankar, JNU
Shubhneet Kaushik, JNU
Sudha Tiwari, JNU
Sayandeb Chowdhury, AU
Bodh Prakash, AU
Rukmini Sen, AU
Virendra Yadav
R. P. Bahuguna, Jamia Millia Islamia
Amman Madan, APU
Manu Mathai, APU
Suraj Jacob, APU
Gayatri Menon, APU
Jyotirmaya Sharma ,HCU
Atlury Murali, HCU
David Thomas
Chandana Dey, Editor, Social Science Press
Jaques Pouchepadass, Pondicherry
Anna Bryson, Queens University, Belfast
Felix Padel, JNIAS
Ahona Panda, Chicago University
Dr Vinita Damodaran, Sussex University
Published with minor edits made for clarity.
