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New Delhi, Feb 16: The crackdown by Centre on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students has turned into an issue of international importance with leftist academia around the globe condemning the government’s reaction. Calling it an act of “authoritarian menace”, political and social scholars round the globe penned an open letter expressing solidarity with JNU Students’ Union. They have termed the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, president of Student Union, as an act of blatant totalitarianism. They further went on to accuse the Narendra Modi-government of suppressing dissent through force and brute. (ALSO READ: JNU row: Government fighting anti-national forces says, BJP)
Here is the letter penned socialist stalwarts round the world condemning the actions of Indian government in the fiercest manner:
We have learnt of the shameful act of the Indian government which, invoking sedition laws formulated by India’s colonial rulers, ordered the police to enter the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus and unlawfully arrest a student leader, Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar, on charges of inciting violence – without any proof whatever of such wrongdoing on his part.
From the reports of a large number of witnesses and the most highly respected journalists in the country, these are the known facts that no impartial observer denies: In a student meeting, acting well within the rights he possesses by the law of the land, Mr. Kumar spoke critically of the BJP government’s policies. On the previous day, at some other event, which he had no part in organising and at which he did not speak, a handful of other students, not even identifiable as students of the university, were shouting slogans about the rights of Kashmiris to independence from Indian military oppression over the last many decades. Mr. Kumar, whose speech (widely available on a video) cannot in any way be connected with the slogans uttered on the previous day, was nonetheless arrested for ‘anti-national’ behaviour and for violating the sedition laws against the incitement to violence. Since there is no evidence to establish these charges, we can only conclude that this arrest is further evidence of the present government’s deeply authoritarian nature, intolerant of any dissent, setting aside India’s longstanding commitment to toleration and plurality of opinion, replicating the dark times of an oppressive colonial period and briefly of the Emergency in the mid-1970s.
These actions of the police have brought great dishonour to the government; and the failure of the Vice-Chancellor to speak out against these actions and moreover to allow the suspension of seven other students on charges that have not been established by a fair and transparent inquiry, will bring great dishonour to the most prominent university in the country in the eyes of the academy all over the world.
We, the undersigned, take a stand of heartfelt solidarity with the students and faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University in their efforts to resist these developments on its campus and, in the name of the liberties that India and Indian universities until recently could take for granted, we not only condemn the culture of authoritarian menace that the present government in India has generated, but urge all those genuinely concerned about the future of India and Indian universities to protest in wide mobilisation against it.
Signed by:
1. Noam Chomsky, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
2. Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Laureate, Turkey
3. Jonathan Cole, Former Provost of Columbia University, USA
4. Judith Butler, Professor of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley
5. Richard N. Zare, Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University, USA
6. Robert Wade, Professor of International Development, London School of Economics, UK
7. Akeel Bilgrami, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA
8. Dimitri Papadimitriou, Director, Levy Institute, Bard College, USA
9. Mriganka Sur, Professor of Neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
10. Jan Breman, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Amsterdam University, The Netherlands,
11. Sanat Kumar, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, USA
12. Sheldon Pollock, Professor of Sanskrit, Columbia University, USA
13. Barbara Harriss-White, Emerita Professor of Development Studies, Oxford University, UK
14. Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University, USA.
15. N. V. Ramana, Professor of Physics, Princeton University, USA
16. James Galbraith, Professor of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, USA
17. Servaas Storm, Professor of Economics, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
18. Arjun Appadurai, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University, USA.
19. Alicia Puyana Mutis, Professor of Economics, Flacso, Mexico.
20. Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics, University of Amherst at Massachusetts, USA
21. Juan Carlos Moreno Brid, Professor of Economics, Universidad National de Mexico, USA
22. Gerald Epstein, Professor of Economics, University of Amherst at Massachusetts, USA
23. Pasuk Phongpaichit, Emerita Professor, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Thailand.
24. Kanti Rai, leading leukemia specialist, USA
Gauri Vishwanathan, Professor of English, Columbia University, USA
25. Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, UK
26. Jennie Traschen, Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA
27. David Kastor, Associate Head of Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA
28. Ugo Pagano, Professor of Economics, University of Siena, Italy
29. Mira Nair, Film Director
30. Ozlem Onaran, Professor of Economics, University of Greenwich, UK
31. Engelbert Stockhammer, Professor of Economics, University of Bristol, UK
32. Gary Dymski, Professor of Applied Economics, University of Leeds, UK
33. Arjun Jayadev, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA.
34. Elissa Braunstein, Colorado State University, USA
35. Alicia Giron, Universidad National de Mexico, USA
36. Daniele Tori, University of Greenwich, UK
37. Pablo Bortz, Universirty of San Martin, Beunos Aires, Argentina
38. Daniela Gabor, UWE Bristol, UK
39. Annina Kaltenbrunner, University of Leeds, UK
40. Thomas Ferguson, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA
41. Malcolm Sawyer, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Leeds, UK
42. Thea Harvey-Barratt, Levy Institute, Bard College, USA
43. Amrita Chhachhi, International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague Netherlands
44. Noemi Levy, Universidad National de Mexico, USA
45. Ilhan Dogus, University of Hamburg, Germany
46. Edward Fullbrook, Executive Director, World Economics Association
47. Brendan Burchell, University of Cambridge, UK
48. Vamsi Vakulabharanam, Professor of Economics, University of Amherst at Massachusetts, USA
49. Sripad Motiram, University of Massachusetts at Bosto, USA
50. Stefano Zambelli, Universita di Trento, Italy
51. Andrew B. Tylecote, Emeritus Professor, University of Sheffield, UK
52. Jing Cai, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
53. Julian Wells, Kingston University, UK
54. Mehmet Kerem Coban, Lee Kuan Yew Institute of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
55. Andres Lazzarini, University of San Martin, Argentina
56. Radha Upadhyaya, University of Nairobi, Kenya
57. Riccardo Bellofiors, Universita di Bergamo, Italy
58. Carolina Alves, University of London
59. Pritam Singh, Oxford Brookes University, UK
60. Stephanie Seguino, University of Vermont, USA
61. Nicolas Pons-Vignon, EHSS, Paris
62. Sergio Cesarotto, Universita di Siena, Italy
63. Tomas Rotta, University of Greenwich, UK
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