Friends from Tamil Nadu have sent us the 418 endorsements they have got to the open letter to the PM by 49 respected citizens. The letter was written to draw the PM’s attention to the rising incidents of mob lynching in the country. Their endorsements are accompanied by the following statement:
To: Thiru Narendra Damodar Modi
Honourable Prime Minister of India
7 October, 2019
Dear Prime Minister:
On July 24, 2019, 49 prominent Indians wrote to the Prime Minister condemning mob violence and lynching. In October, acting on a private complaint, a Chief Judicial Magistrate in Muzzafarpur, Bihar, directed the police to register a case of sedition against the signatories to the letter. The complaint and the direction of the CJM are in violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution. Below is the text of the original letter signed by the 49 persons now charged with sedition. We wish to add our endorsement and bring the letter to your notice once again. We hope you agree and will declare that asking for a hate-free India is not sedition.
The original letter, which we endorse as citizens of India is as below:
Dear Prime Minister
We, as peace-loving and proud Indians, are deeply concerned about a number of tragic events that have been happening in recent times in our beloved country.
Our Constitution declares India as a secular, socialist democratic republic where citizens of all religions, ethnicities, gender and castes are equal. Hence, to ensure that every citizen enjoys the rights given to her/him by the constitution, our submission is:
1. The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) reports that there had been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions.
Further, 254 religious identity-based hate crimes were reported between January 1, 2009 and October 29, 2018 where at least 91 persons were killed and 579 were injured. (FactChecker.in database October 30, 2018). The Citizens’ Religious Hate-Crime Watch recorded that muslims (14% of India’s population) were the victims in 62% of the cases, and christians (2% of the population) in 14% of cases. About 90% of these attacks were reported after May 2014, when your government assumed power nationally.
You have criticised such lynchings in parliament Mr. Prime Minister, but that is not enough! What action has actually been taken against the perpetrators? We strongly feel that such offences should be declared non-bailable and that exemplary punishment should be meted strictly and surely. If life imprisonment without parole can be the sentence in cases of murder, why not for lynchings, which are even more heinous?
No citizen should have to live in fear in his/her own country!
Regrettably “Jai Shri Ram” has become a provocative ‘war-cry.’ Today, that leads to law and order problems and many lynchings take place in its name. It is shocking that so much violence should be perpetrated in the name of religion. These are not the Middle Ages! The name of Ram is sacred to many in the majority community of India. As the highest Executive of this country, you must put a stop to the name of Ram being defiled in this manner.
2) There is no democracy without dissent. People should not be branded ‘anti-national’ or ‘urban Naxal’ and incarcerated because of dissent against the government. Article 19 of the Constitution of India protects freedom of speech and expression, of which dissent is an integral part.
Criticising the ruling party does not imply criticising the nation. No ruling party is synonymous with the country where it is in power. It is only one of the political parties of that country. Hence, anti-government stands cannot be equated with anti-national sentiment. An open environment where dissent is not crushed, only makes for a stronger nation.
We hope our suggestions will be taken in the spirit that they are meant – as Indians genuinely concerned with, and anxious about, the fate of our nation.
With best regards.
Yours sincerely,
| A P Josy |
| Aabha Muralidharan |
| Aaron Moses Reuben |
| Aasha Ramesh |
| Abdul Haque |
| Abhay Shukla |
| Abhishek Shaw |
| Abraham Chacko P |
| Achin Chakraborty |
| Achuthan Palat |
| Aimee Wadia |
| Akhila Phadnis |
| Akshitha |
| Amalorpavanathan |
| Amelia |
| Amita |
| Amitava Saraswati |
| Amos Suna |
| Anandhi |
| Ananth |
| Aneesh Pradhan |
| Anil Menon |
| Anil T Varghese |
| Anisha Lazarus |
| Anjali |
| Anjana Rajagopalan |
| Anna Mathew |
| Anna Thomas |
| Anomita |
| Antony Nixon |
| Antonysamy |
| Anu Thomas |
| Anuradha Bhasin |
| Anush Srivatsan |
| Archana Shah |
| Archanaa Seker |
| ARCY Pinto |
| Arima Valan Immanuel |
| Arjun |
| Arunabha Ghosh |
| Arvind Kaushal |
| Asha |
| Ashiq |
| Ashish |
| Ashokkumar |
| Asif Moiz Jadliwala |
| Aysha Rau |
| B Girija |
| Bala Natarajan |
| Balakanthan |
| Balasubramanian |
| Bernard D’Mello |
| Bhavik Kothari |
| Biju Mk |
| Bikram Sen |
| Bindu |
| Blaise Joseph |
| Bratati Bal Das |
| Bridget |
| Carmen Gomes |
| Caxton |
| Cedric Prakash |
| Chandan Mukherjee |
| Chandiran Joseph |
| Charu Govindan |
| Charu Govindan |
| Chinnaiah Jangam |
| Chitra Palekar |
| D Ravi Kanth |
| David Manohar |
| Dawood Miakhan |
| Debashish Bhattacherjee |
| Deepak Malghan |
| Deepti Pradhan |
| Dennis |
| Devika Rani |
| Devina Dutt |
| Diethono Nakhro |
| Dinesh G |
| Divya chaudhry |
| Divya D |
| Dorothy |
| Dr V Janaki |
| Dr V Rukmini Rao |
| Dr Y Srinivasa Rao |
| Dr Zaibunissa |
| Duming |
| Duran Kumar Jiwani |
| Edward Wilson |
| Elizabeth Seshadri |
| Farida |
| Farooque Khan |
| Farrukh Waris |
| Francis Fernandes |
| Francis P |
| Gail Coelho |
| Gané Gané |
| Ganesh Raut |
| Geeta Seshu |
| Geetha Devarajan |
| George Thomas |
| Gopal |
| Gopalakrishnan |
| Gopi |
| Gopi Krishna |
| Gowtham K Ranganathan |
| Gurumoorthy |
| Hamida vasanwala |
| Hans |
| Hariharan |
| Hayley |
| Hema |
| Hilloo Damkrvala |
| Ibrahim Hashim |
| Ibrahim Rungla |
| Ilavarasi Duraimanickam |
| Indira hirway |
| Intikhab Ahmad |
| Irfan Refai |
| Janaki S |
| Janani |
| Jayati Ghosh |
| Jayoo |
| Jayraj Rau |
| Jean |
| Jerome Kujur |
| Jeyachandran |
| Jimmy Bilimoria |
| Joaquim V Gomes |
| Joe Athialy |
| Joel Fernando R |
| John Jayaharan |
| Jose Changa |
| Jose George |
| Jude |
| Jugal |
| Juggy Jagannathan |
| Jyoti Bahen |
| K C Sundaram |
| K Kalpana |
| K S Narendran |
| K Sudha |
| Kamal Patel |
| Kamar |
| Karthick |
| Karthik Seshadri |
| Karthikeya Sivasenapathty |
| Kasturi Adhikary |
| Katheeja Talha |
| Kaustub |
| Kaveri |
| Keshav Desiraju |
| Koki |
| krishna kumar k J |
| Krishnakant |
| Krithiga Viswanathan |
| Kurian |
| Lancy Dsouza |
| Leelashree Godara |
| Lenny Rodrigues |
| Lissy Joseph |
| Lourdhu Rajesh |
| M Haseef |
| M R Vikram |
| Mahaboob Basha Vastaad |
| Maharukh Adrnwalls |
| Mahendra G Nadkarni |
| Mahesh Lobo |
| Mahima A Jain |
| Mamta |
| Manasa Gade |
| Manisha Gupte |
| Manju |
| Manoj Pillai |
| Manoranjan Singh |
| Mansi Gandhi |
| Mariam Jetpurwalla |
| Marie-Elena Ribeiro Castellino |
| Mark Yadav |
| Mary Kunnirickal |
| Mazher Hussain |
| Meena |
| Meer Iftekhar Ali |
| Meera |
| Meera K |
| Meera Ravikumar |
| Meera Viswanathan |
| Meher |
| Michael Xavier |
| Milind Champanerkar |
| Mini |
| Mini Mathew |
| Mohamed M S |
| Mohamed Rizwan |
| Mohammed Baseer Ahmed |
| Mouno Bhaumik |
| Mrinalini Ravi |
| Ruhi |
| Mrudul Nile |
| Muthukumar T |
| Naazim |
| Nagmani Rao |
| Nandalal Narute |
| Narendra |
| Nathan Fernandez |
| Navroz Seervai |
| Nayantara Panjwani |
| Neena |
| Neeta Ratwani |
| Nikitha Phyllis |
| Nilakantan |
| Nimisha Kumar |
| NishaSingapore |
| Nityanand Jayaraman |
| Nivedita |
| Nivedita Menon |
| Om Prakash Singh |
| P E Esakkimuthu |
| Padma Balasubramanian |
| Padma Velaskar |
| Padmaja Shaw |
| Pankaj Chalke |
| Papiya Durairaj |
| Parimala |
| Partha Ghosh |
| Partha Ray |
| Paul Chacko |
| Pawan Ranta |
| Peer Mohamed A |
| Peter Ronald desouza |
| PK Abdul Rahiman |
| PK Subramanian |
| Poornima K |
| Prabhat Sharan |
| Pramod Balakrishnan |
| Prasad Manjrekar |
| Prashant Kothadiya |
| Pratima Pardeshi |
| Praveen Kumar T |
| Pravin Nilawe |
| Preetha |
| Prem Palanivel |
| Priya |
| Priyadarshini |
| purushottam warlu chandekar |
| PV Ramprasaanth |
| R Mahendran |
| R Vaigai |
| Radha |
| Radhika Ganesh |
| Rafi |
| Rafia |
| Rafiq Sait |
| Raghav |
| Rahul |
| Rahul Rai |
| Raja Swamy |
| Rajaraman |
| Rajendra K Sail |
| rajesh chauhan |
| Raji |
| Rajith |
| Ram |
| Ramachandran Palpandi Raja |
| Ramesh Dorairajan |
| Ramesh Dwivedi |
| Rammanohar Reddy |
| Rathnavel |
| Ravi Mathew |
| Ravindran Sriramachandran |
| Ravindran Sriramachandran |
| Razi |
| Renu |
| Rethna Swamy |
| Rinchen Wangdi |
| Rishikhant Rishikhant |
| Ritu Dewan |
| RM Manivannan |
| Roger Gaikwad |
| Rohit Shetti |
| Romar Correa |
| Roopa Sharma |
| Rose |
| Roshni Rajaram |
| Rowena DSilva |
| Rowena shibu |
| Rukmini |
| Runu |
| Ruth |
| S D Lala |
| S Dutta |
| S Thomas Jayaraj |
| S V Rajadurai |
| Sachin Shrivastava |
| sadhana dadhich |
| Saeed Patel |
| Safeel |
| Sagari R Ramdas |
| Saji Cherian |
| Sajive Kanwar |
| Sakshi Thakur |
| Sameer |
| Samuel Asir Raj |
| Samyuktha PC |
| Sangamithra |
| Sanjay Singhvi |
| Sathya P |
| Sayon Majumdar |
| Seema Bal |
| Senthil Kumar |
| Shajan Antony |
| Shakuntala Kulkarni |
| Shalu |
| Shameem |
| Shankar Prakash |
| Shanmathi |
| Shanthini |
| Shanti Pinto |
| Sharadha |
| Sharadha Shankar |
| Sharmita Nair |
| Shashi chandrababu |
| Shazia Akbar |
| Sherebanu Frosh |
| Shirin N Sethna |
| Shiv |
| Shivananda siddappa |
| Shobita Shetty |
| Shrikant Shriram Modak |
| Shubashree Desikan |
| Shweta Damle |
| Sindhuja Janakiraman |
| Siva Ananth |
| Sivakumar KS |
| Smita |
| Sonali Sengupta |
| Sridharan |
| Srinivasan |
| Srinivasan G |
| Stephen George |
| Subhagata Bhattacharya |
| Sudha Sharan |
| Sudheer |
| Sudhir Nayak |
| Suhail Masood |
| Suhara Kamar |
| Sujatha n |
| Sujatha rao |
| Sukumar |
| Sumita Banerji |
| Sundari RavindranMalaysia |
| Suniti S R |
| Sunkara Rajendra Prasad |
| Suresh Melettukochy |
| Suresh nc |
| Susan Abraham |
| Susan Cherian |
| Susan Mathews |
| Susannah Malkan |
| Swami SN |
| Syed Khalique Ahmed |
| T M Krishna |
| T Mohan |
| T Swaminathan |
| Tamil Rajendiran |
| Tani BH |
| Tannaz Commissariat |
| Tariq Akbar |
| Tathagato Roychoudhury |
| Thamizan |
| Tharun |
| Thiagarajan Annamalai |
| Thomas Franco |
| Thumma Xavier |
| TN Gopalan |
| Tracy Jose |
| Uma Krish |
| Uma Murugan |
| Urvashi Lunia |
| Usha Albuquerque |
| Usha Chattopadhyay |
| Usha Somasundaram |
| Uthra Venkatraman |
| V Geetha |
| Vaishnavi |
| Vaishnavi Jayakumar |
| Valerie |
| Vandana |
| Vandana gopikumar |
| Vandana Kulkarni |
| Vanlalhlana Sailo |
| Varghese Theckanath |
| Varghese Theckanath |
| Vasanti Damle |
| Veena P |
| Venkat |
| Venkatesh Chakravarthy |
| Vibha Kamat |
| Vicky Chandhok |
| Vidyut Gore |
| Vignesh |
| Vignesh Rajendran |
| Vijay Kumar |
| Vijay MunshiSingapore |
| Vincent |
| Vinu Lobo |
| Virgil d sami |
| Virochan Raote |
| Vivek Sen |
| Wahid Shariff |
| Washington |
| Wsherine |
| Yash Agrawal |
| Yasmeen |
| Yasmin |
| Zaheer Ali |
| Zahir Ansari |
| Zayaan mujeeb |
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