We, the undersigned, students, scholars, and faculty of the University of Texas at Austin, stand in solidarity with the students, faculty, and staff at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi against the illegal and unconscionable crackdown by police. We demand an immediate end to all police action on campus, a withdrawal of all frivolous charges against the President of JNU Students’ Union, Kanhaiya Kumar, and other students, as well as an end to the campaign of harassment and intimidation against students at the university. With them, we affirm the autonomy of the university as a non-militarized space for freedom of thought and expression. Accordingly, we condemn police presence on campus and the harassment of students on the basis of their political beliefs. 

We believe that these actions by the Indian state and its associated groups and institutions are part of a larger campaign to stifle dissenting voices in the country, especially on university campuses which have persistently resisted the capitalist, Brahmanical hegemony of the current government. This was clearly evident in the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD student at Hyderabad Central University (HCU) last month. The similarity of the modus operandi in Hyderabad and Delhi is striking: Rohith and his comrades had been accused of ‘anti-national’ activities for their condemnation of the hanging of Yakub Memon, and suspended from their academic positions on these undemocratic grounds. Similar charges have been framed against the students of JNU for organizing an event in solidarity with the struggle of Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination. To make matters murkier, it is now certain that at the event, which also marked the third anniversary of the execution of Afzal Guru, the ABVP was involved in raising the controversial slogans that are being cited to justify the sedition charge. We are of the firm opinion that protesting against state violence is a fundamental right that must not become vulnerable to arbitrary violation by governments, police and university administrations.

We believe that the colonial-era laws of sedition — already diluted and read down by the Supreme Court — are an embarrassment to India’s democratic principles. The criminalization of dissent in this case reveals how India’s current political leadership has been unable to respect diversity and guarantee the full legal rights of its people. Its political program imagines the citizen as upper caste, heterosexual, male, Hindu; its economic program necessitates a blind faith in neoliberalism; and its social program continually imagines an enemy – the Muslim, the Dalit, the Left. It is not surprising that a government so debilitated and blinkered by its ideological narrowness has invoked the charge of sedition and sent police forces into the JNU campus, an action reminiscent of the worst years of Emergency.

We are also distressed by views expressed in certain sections of the Indian media regarding the legitimacy of political activism in public universities. This argument claims that since central and state governments subsidize education in public institutions, it is the responsibility of beneficiaries to refrain from critiquing state policies and to solely prioritize their studies. We firmly reject this cost-benefit understanding of education as shallow, apolitical, and deeply reactionary. As the saying goes, ‘education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire’. The current administration and sections of the media would prefer students to remain uncritical of the violence of Brahmanism, communalism, and neoliberal capitalism. But the Rohiths of the world will keep lighting a fire and keep burning down bigotry. We believe that both public education and free speech are fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution, rights that have been earned through long struggle and rights that we will keep fighting for in India and elsewhere as we face systematic neoliberal onslaughts on dissent and education.

To our friends, colleagues and comrades in JNU, HCU, FTII and elsewhere, we stand with you in your resistance against state sponsored violence, which curbs any form of dissent on the one hand, and on the other, condones hate speech by Hindu nationalists. We believe that scholarship and the concomitant development of our critical faculties should be used in dreaming of and implementing a better, pluralistic and just society.
 

1. Charlotte Giles, PhD Student, Department of Asian Studies
2. Snehal Shingavi, Associate Professor, Department of English
3. Ramna Walia, PhD Student, Department of Radio-Television-Film
4. Adolfo R Mora, PhD Student, Department of Radio-Television-Film
5. Madiha Haque, MA Student, Department of Asian Studies
6. Saif Shahin, PhD Candidate, School of Journalism
7. Saleha Parvaiz, MA Student, Department of Asian Studies
8. Rupali Warke, Phd Student, History Department
9. Kathleen Longwaters, PhD Student, Department of Asian Studies
10. Rubi Sanchez, PhD Student, Department of Asian Studies
11. Claire Cooley, PhD Student, Department of Middle Eastern Studies
12. Justin Ben-Hain, PhD Student, Department of Asian Studies
13. Afsar Mohammad, Senior Lecturer, Department of Asian studies
14. Aniruddhan Vasudevan, PhD Student, Department of Anthropology
15. JhuCin Jhang, PhD Student, Department of Communication Studies
16. Julia Dehm, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Law
17. Charlotte Nunes, UT English Graduate, Postdoctoral Fellow, Southwestern University
18. Zack Shlachter, PhD Student, Department of History
19. Seth Uzman, Undergraduate, Department of Mathematics, Department of Economics
20. Abikal Borah, PhD Student, Department of History
21. Charalampos Minasidis, PhD Student, Department of History
22. Sam Lauber, Undergraduate, Department of Computer Science
23. Heather Houser, Associate Professor, Department of English
24. Robert Oppenheim, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies
25. Barbara Harlow, Professor, Department of English
26. Yoalli Rodríguez Aguilera, PhD Student, Institute of Latin American Studies
27. Tathagatan Ravindran, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Anthropology
28. Prisca Gayles, PhD Student, Institute of Latin American Studies
29. Jack Loveridge, PhD Candidate, Department of History
30. Chloe L. Ireton, Department of History
31. Luis Cataldo, undergraduate, Department of English
32. Swapnil Rai, PhD Candidate, School of Communication
33. Heather Hindman, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies
34. Magdalena Saldaña, PhD Student, School of Journalism
35. Danielle Kilgo, PhD Candidate, School of Journalism
36. Kristen Hogan, Education Coordinator, Gender & Sexuality Center
37. Robert Jensen, Professor, School of Journalism
38. Ryan Sharp, PhD Student, Department of English
39. Elizabeth Picherit, PhD Student, Department of English
40. Regina Mills, PhD Student, Department of English
41. Isaac McQuistion, Masters Student, Department of Asian Studies
42. Hannah V. Harrison, PhD Student, Department of English
43. Kristie Flannery, PhD Candidate, Department of History
44. Omer Ozcan, PhD Candidate,Department of Anthropology
45. Nikola Rajic, PhD Candidate, Department of Asian Studies
46. Mohammed Nabulsi, JD Candidate, School of Law
47. Jason Brownlee, Professor, Department of Government
48. Noah De Lissovoy, Associate Professor, College of Education
49. Martha Ann Selby, Professor and Chair, Department of Asian Studies
50. Amrita Mishra, PhD Student, Department of English
51. Morgan C. O’Brien, Ph.D candidate, Department of Radio-Television- Film
52. Tupur Chatterjee, Ph.D Candidate, Department of Radio-Television-Film
53. John Morán González, Associate Professor, Department of English
54. Colleen Montgomery, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Radio-Television-Film
55. Caitlin McClune, Ph.D Candidate, Department of Radio-Television-Film
56. Shilpa Parnami, PhD Candidate, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
57. Jinsook Kim, PhD Student, Department of Radio-Television-Film
58. Abdul Haque Chang, PhD alum, Department of Anthropology
59. Pete Kunze, PhD Student, Department of Radio-Television-Film

Guest Post by Citizens Committee for the Defense of Democracy

The Citizens Committee for the Defense of Democracy strongly condemns the clampdown in Jawaharlal Nehru University. We deplore the targeting of students and teachers and condemn the culture of authoritarian menace that the Central Government has unleashed.  We strongly believe that dissent is not sedition and invoking sedition laws against students, ordering the police to enter the campus and unlawfully arresting a student leader, issuing warrants against many others on charges of inciting violence, attacking students, teachers and arrested student in the court premises, are serious assault on the fundamental rights of the citizens of this country.  The right to dissent is fundamental to maintaining democracy and the recent developments have shaken the foundations of democracy. We condemn the indiscriminate use of the colonial law of sedition on dissenting voices.

The attack on JNU is an attack on our diversity, on public funding of universities and access to higher education for the common people. The vicious campaign of ‘tax-payers’ monies funding the anti-nationals’ is highly regressive and malicious.   It is only through public funding and reservation policies that access to higher education has been expanded for students from all backgrounds, especially girl students from poorer backgrounds. It is public funding which makes higher education accessible to many.

We are pained and angry that a public institution of higher learning has been attacked with such viciousness, systematically and calculatedly.  JNU offers a vibrant space for learning, questioning, debating and developing a political understanding of structural injustices.

We are extremely concerned that the police is completely turned into a silent spectator as students, teachers and activists are publicly assaulted and abused, and hate and violence is incited against agitating students.  The police is openly issuing such loaded statements, which law abiding citizens perceive as threatening. To disagree and question is every citizen’s right and the JNU students are only exercising their right, peacefully and with utmost restraint and civility.

We are particularly concerned about the safety of our young women and men students who are being intimidated by the University administration, police and the marauding mobs which have been unleashed on the students in the vicinity of JNU and in and around the Court where cases against accused student is being heard.

We deplore the labeling of “anti-national” of those who are exercising their democratic right of challenging the majoritarian orthodoxy.  We believe that this will render this country intellectually poorer if critical thinking is pushed to a space which is reserved for the enemy.

We condemn sections of the visual and print media for their open partisanship, irresponsible coverage, misreporting, and blacking out news and views of the striking students.

We feel it is time for all thinking people of this city to come together and raise our collective voices in defense of academic freedom, right to dissent and defend the spaces for democratic dissent.

We unequivocally demand that

All cases and charges should be withdrawn against all JNU students immediately and unconditionally. The matter should have been handled by a responsible committee internal to JNU, with a fair representation of teachers, rather than calling in the police.

The administration of JNU should be held accountable for dereliction of duty, collaborating with the Police in falsely charging the students, enabling the police to search university premises and hostels and arrest students at the expense of internal processes and without consulting the university faculty and office bearers. The University administration’s bowing to the government pressure compromised University autonomy with serious implications for the careers of students and prospects of pursuing degrees.
No police should be allowed to enter the campus and all plainclothes police be removed from the campus immediately.

No University premises including the hostels should be checked by anyone other than the university administration and only in the presence of the wardens.

Delhi police should restrain the menacing gangs roaming about in the vicinity of JNU intimidating the students, teachers and solidarity groups. We demand that rather than unleashing these mobs on the University community with a malicious intent, effective steps should be taken to prevent such mobs from indulging in mischief.

Police should act responsibly, performs its duty and ensures safety of the students, teachers and solidarity groups in courts and in public spaces and allow them to exercise their lawful rights of voicing their concerns.

Romila Thapar, Krishna Sobti, Harbans Mukhia, Harsh Mander, Navsharan Singh, Nalini Taneja, Asad Zaidi, Mangalesh Dabral, Subhash Gatade, Uma Chakravarty, Syeda Hameed; Sukumar Muralidharan, Prabir Purkayastha, Puneet Bedi, Rahul Roy, Saba Dewan, Urvashi Butalia, Tapan Bose, Nandita Narain, Peggy Mohan, Farah Naqvi, Neeraj Malik, Javed Malik, Jawrimal Parakh, Devaki Jain, Dinesh Mohan, Prabhat Patnaik, Bharat Bhushan, Dunu Roy, Jean Dreze, Tanika Sarkar, Sumit Sarkar, Warisha Farasat, Seema Mustafa, Farida Khan, Salil Mishra,

Williams College Stands with JNU!

Kajri Jain, University of Toronto

Aarti Sethi, (JNU 2009), Columbia University