This is a statement issued by the undersigned, scholars of Departments of Humanities and Social Sciences of IITs across the country.
We, the undersigned, scholars of Departments of Humanities and Social Sciences of IITs across the country, condemn the police action in JNU and the arrest of the JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar on the charge of sedition. We also denounce the repeated acts of violence unleashed by some lawyers and others at the Patiala House Court against faculty, students and the media, as well as police inaction regarding the same.
In addition, we appeal for media and public trials to cease and for civil society to instead focus on debating issues in an amicable and reasonable manner, without slandering JNU or questioning the academic integrity or patriotic fervour of JNU and its supporters. We criticise the general atmosphere of fear and intimidation that is being created to target the entire university. Given the fast polarizing political atmosphere in the country, we appeal to the media organisations to display greater responsibility and conduct television debates in such a manner that no prejudicial public opinion is created while there is an ongoing enquiry into the entire episode by the authorities concerned. Resorting to jingoism and sensationalism may cause avoidable hazards.We see the attack on JNU as one of a series of attacks on academic autonomy and the liberal ethos of learning. The attempt to ban the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle at IIT-Madras, questionable appointments at various institutions of higher education, and the recent attack on the Ambedkar Students’ Association at the University of Hyderabad leading to the death of research scholar Rohith Vemula, must be seen as a part of a very disturbing trend.
To function meaningfully, academic spaces should be vibrant and democratic, conducive for free enquiry and debate. We believe that universities have been and should remain, places for dialogue and deliberation. They should accommodate diverse opinions and cultures, where disagreements are resolved through the use of calm reason and balanced debate on both sides. Tampering with free inquiry by taking recourse to threat or intimidation not only tramples academic autonomy but leaves us poorer as a society. It is only through free exchange of thought, where ideas are allowed to propagate, and there remains a possibility of revision of previously-held opinions, that we develop as a nation and contribute to its further growth. We uphold the vibrant nature of India’s democracy and champion the right to dissent and examine the most fundamental concepts that are of interest to all Indian citizens. We stand in solidarity with JNUSU, JNUTA, JNU students, and all democratic bodies and individuals who are defending the liberal ethos of universities and appreciate the critical role they play in maintaining constitutional democracy.
Aditi Singh, IIT Kharagpur
Ahsan Mohammed, IIT Madras
Akaitab Mukherjee, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Amit Kumar Mishra, IIT Kharagpur
Amit Saurabh, IIT Bombay
Anitha Iris, IIT Madras
Ankit Saxena, IIT Roorkee
Ankita Agarwal, IIT Kharagpur
Ankita Das, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Ankur Betageri, IIT Delhi
Anukripa Elango, IIT Madras
Archana Kumari, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Archana Verma, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Arya Prakash, IIT Madras
Asha Rani Horo, IIT Kharagpur
Ashni A L, IIT Madras
Ashwin Kurian Philip, IIT Madras
Asmita Verma, IIT Delhi
Bibhuti Mary Kachhap, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Chandana R B, IIT Madras
Chetan Kale, IIT Kharagpur
Chinju Johny, IIT Delhi
Debarati Dutta, IIT Kharagpur
Debjani Sarkar, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Debashis Pahi, IIT Kharagpur
Deepa Kozhisseri, IIT Madras
Diana Evangeline, IIT Madras
Drishadwati Bargi, IIT Delhi
Geeta Mishra, IIT Delhi
Gurmeet Kaur, IIT Delhi
Hasna Ashraf, IIT Madras
Himanshi Pandey, IIT Kharagpur
Ishita Verma, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Jayshree Borah, IIT Madras
Joydeep, IIT Kharagpur
Justin Joseph, IIT Madras
Jyotsna Priyadarshni, IIT Kharagpur
Kalpana, IIT Kharagpur
Kranthi Kumar K, IIT Bombay
Keerthy P A, IIT Madras
Lalita, IIT Delhi
Laxmi Kumari, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Madhumit, IIT Kharagpur
Madhura Balasubramaniam, IIT Madras
Manohar Kumar, IIT Delhi
Manoj T P, IIT Madras
Mahendra Shahare, IIT Delhi
Mayuri Dilip, IIT Madras
Moupikta Mukherjee, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Meera M Panicker, IIT Madras
Mohammad Shahid Zaman,IIT Madras
Nishant Kumar,IIT Madras
Neha Gupta, IIT Delhi
Nikhil Yadav, IIT Delhi
Pallavi Kiran, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Prateek Vijayavargia, IIT Bombay
Pratyusha Bhowmik, IIT Kharagpur
Pritika Nehra, IIT Delhi
Purvi Oraon, IIT Madras
Queen Sarkar, IIT Kharagpur
Ranjith Kallyani, IIT Bombay
Ravi Chakraborty, IIT Delhi
Reema Singh, IIT Kharagpur
Reena Ashem, IIT Delhi
Rituparna Sengupta, IIT Delhi
Robin EJ, IIT Delhi
Ruhi Sonal, IIT Delhi
Rupali Bansode, IIT Delhi
Sahel Md. Delabul Hossain, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Saliha Shah, IIT Delhi
Sana Huque, IIT Bombay
Sandip Datta, IIT Delhi
Sarbani Bandyopadhyay, IIT Bombay
Seema Ladsaria, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Shashwati Sinha, IIT Kharagpur
Shikha Vats, IIT Delhi
Smrity Sonal, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Soumya Mohan Ghosh, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Sreelakshmi R, IIT Madras
Sree Hari A P, IIT Madras
Sridhar S, IIT Madras
Suchitra Pramanik, IIT Kharagpur
Sukruth Koundinya, IIT Madras
Supriya Pandey, IIT Kharagpur
Supriya Kumari Singh, IIT Kharagpur
Swati Mantri, IIT Delhi
Swayamshree Mishra, IIT Delhi
Swetha Sridhar, IIT Madras
Syed Junaid Ahmad, IIT Delhi
Tamali, IIT Bombay
Tanima Kumari, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Thapasya J, IIT Madras
Upasana Sinha, IIT Dhanbad (ISM)
Urmila Reghunath, IIT Madras
Vikas Malhotra, IIT Kharagpur
Vikram Chukka, IIT Delhi
Vinay, IIT Bombay
Vishal Singh, IIT Kharagpur
Zenia Nanra, IIT Kharagpur