The statement, titled “Is India on the Verge of a Fratricide and will Silence be our only answer?” condemns the “utter and complete breakdown of any semblance of the Rule of Law” after assaults on Members of Parliament Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee.
“These violent attacks — while Central forces are still deployed in the state — not only signify the utter and complete breakdown of any semblance of the Rule of Law in West Bengal,” the signatories declared. “They send out grim warning signals to the rest of the country.”
The collective statement also criticised the conduct of the Central Election Commission, noting “91 lakh previous voters [were] divested of their voting rights.” The statement linked the violence to what it described as unchecked repression following the May 2026 assembly election results.
The signatories include former union minister Yashwant Sinha, writers and journalists Susie Tharu, Raju Parulekar, Navin Kumar, Venkitesh Ramakrishnan Teesta Setalvad, Javed Anand, Chitra Palekar, Indra Kumar Theradi, retired civil servant Ashish Joshi, Aditi Mehta, danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, activists Shabnam Hashmi, Ram Puniyani, Dolphy D’Souza, Virginia Saldanha, artists Shakuntala Kulkarni, Navjot Altaf, Kripa, photographer, Ram Rahman, Nandita Narain , Associate Professor( Retd), St.Stephen’s College, Delhi University among several others. Gandhian Tushar Gandhi, Jesuit leaders Father Frazer Mascarenhas and Cedric Prakash, film maker Avinash Das. Medical practioner Harsha Hege are also signatories.
The statement recalled the 2001 assassination of MP Phoolan Devi, when Parliament “took note” of the attack. In contrast, the signatories said today’s institutions have responded with “institutional freeze and silence.”
“We remain mute spectators only to our own peril,” the statement warned, urging citizens to organize and speak out against violence and repression.
The entire statement may be read here:
Concerned Citizens
Mumbai, June 3, 2026
The Saturday May 30-31, 2026 brute attacks in West Bengal, first on Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Abhishek Banerjee and thereafter on another MP of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Kalyan Banerjee mark yet another, but new, all-time low under the present regime under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the current prime minister. The violent attacks 26 days after an election result that has been shrouded under a cloud with the conduct of the Central Election Commission (CEC) –with 91 lakh previous voters divested of their voting rights—needs to be condemned with rigour and foresight.
These violent attacks –while Central forces are still deployed in the state —not only signify the utter and complete breakdown of any semblance of the Rule of Law in West Bengal. They send out grim warning signals to the rest of the country, and are a sign that all out fratricide (more physical, unchecked attacks on the Opposition) may follow. Widespread physical threats and violence in states governed by the same party may well become the norm and it is time, for those Indians, with conscience and voice, to speak out. Now.
Just a day after the controversial May 4, 2026 results in West Bengal, none less than another discredited and authoritarian oligarch leader of the world’s second largest (and ‘oldest’) democracy, Donald Trump doled out widely-publicised words of congratulation to the Indian Prime Minister. These words from one head of state to another, after a state/federal election where several parties participate, were sharply condemned by some members of the Opposition who deemed this as ‘direct interference in internal affairs’ and an ‘attack on Indian federalism.’ Trump is a discredited world leader who’s moral and other failures on the domestic and international front, bear no recounting. Yet the overall immunity that this Regime is functioning under/with, clearly comes from this unholy alliance that it has individually built with a world leader and its state, at the cost of Indian economic and defence interests and its sovereignty.
We, Indian writers and activists who condemn in no uncertain terms the near fatal attacks on Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee, both Members of Parliament, have little hope that the Indian Lok Sabha (Lower House of Elected Representatives) will either move a Privilege Motion nor out rightly demand a response from the ruling dispensation as is the well-established law and practice. On one previous and rare occasion, when an MP like Phoolan Devi was attacked and killed outside her New Delhi residence, in July 2001 in broad daylight, it was also a previous NDA government, led by Bharatiya Janata Party’s Atal Behari Vajpayee that was in power in Delhi. However, there was not just uproar and condemnation but Parliament took note.
This time, the brute attacks that have been widely documented on social media have been met, largely with institutional freeze and silence. This silence from autonomous and independent bodies bodes ill for India and Indians. We remain mute spectators only to our own peril.
Signatories
Raju Parulekar, Writer
Teesta Setalvad, Rights Activist, Journalist and Educationist
Navin Kumar, Journalist and Academic
Yashwant Sinha, former Union Minister for Finance & External Affairs, GOI
Parakala Prabhakar, Political Economist and Author
Anand Patwardhan, noted Film-maker and Activist
Navaid Hamid, Secretary Peoples Integration Council
Ram Puniyani, All India secular forum
Yashodhan Paranjpe
Sheeba Aslam Fehmi, Journalist, Researcher, New Delhi
Lalita Ramdas, Peace Activist
Javed Anand
Mallika Sarabhai
Bharat Bhushan, Columnist and Editor
Mondira Jaisimha
Navaid Hamid, Secretary Peoples Integration Council
Kunwar Danish Ali
Chitra Palekar Theatre Personality & Author
Col Pavan Nair
Sooraj Samant
Yashodhan Paranjpe
Dev Desai
Gautam Mukhopadhaya
Nandini Manjrekar
Aditi Mehta
डॉ. लक्ष्मण यादव, लेखक व सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता, दिल्ली
Meena Karnik
Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Director General Wisdom Foundation
Nikhil Sanjay-Rekha Adsule
Kripa
Frazer Mascarenhas
A C Michael
Indra Kumar Theradi
Kedar Vaidya
Susie Tharu
Tushar A. Gandhi
Harsha Hegde
Cedric Prakash
Avinash Das
Kumud karnik
Jawad A J
Dr. Michael Williams
N.D.Jayaprakash
Atul chakravarty
Mridula Mukherjee
Niloufer Bhagwat
Joy Sengupta
Atul
Shabnam Hashmi
Venkitesh Ramakrishnan
Deb Mukharji
Javed Ali Khan
Naazish Shah
Kamal Malhotra
Suhel Tirmizi
Balveer Arora
Harminder Soni
Manoj Nair
Muniza Khan, Activist and Researcher
Anita Rampal
Niharika JINDAL
Atul Kochar, Under water SME
Sudhir Wilson, Technical Advisor
Navdeep Mathur, Academician
Rajeev Bhargava
Ashish Joshi, Former Civil Servant & Member CCG and CFF
Gautam Vir, Retired
Meera
Priyanka Parulekar, Student
Premanand, Social Activist
Sanjeev Gupta
Balasangameshwara Vollepore , Member AIPC
Nandita Narain , Associate Professor( Retd), St.Stephen’s College, Delhi University
Ram Rahman, Photographer
Lalita Deonalli , Retired
Laly Randolf, Citizen Activist
Ebin Gheevarghese , Journalist
Rajiv Kapoor, Hotel Premdeep Partner
Sancia Sequeira, Tourisn
Natasha Pereira , Self-employed/ part time envt activist
Anand Kumar , President, Citizens for Democracy
Alok Rai
Adv Dr Lubna Sarwath, Indian National Congress, Hyderabad
Ramesh Dixit , Professor (retired) Lucknow University.
Sandhya Honawar, Retd
Sharmeela de Vas , Writing & Copy editing Consultant
Amitabha Basu, Retired scientist, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi
Mohan Abraham
Sanjeev
Brian DSouza , The Bombay Catholic Sabha
नितीन वाळके, व्यापारी
Deepa Navin , Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant
Vickram Crishna, Appropriate Technology Advocate
SUNIL, Businesses
Philomena D’Souza , Satyashodhak
Pervin Sanghvi
Virginia Saldanha , Woman Activist
Rebecca Dlima , Housewife
Elsa Muttathu , Concerned citizen.
Karan D’Lima
Faredoon Bhujwala, trainer
Gracian Alfonso, Retired .Believer in Free speach and freedom.
Smita Crishna , Social worker
Ryan Oliver
Dhananjay Ramkrishna Shinde, Activist
Ashok Sharma, IFS (Retd)
Shubhra verma, Creative director
Dolphy Dsouza, Rights Activist
Chandrasekaran S, Retired teacher
Neeraj Bhai Patel , Editor In Chief National Janmat
Shalini , Retired lecturer
Priya D’S, Retired
Gwen Monteiro
Jennifer Mirza, Retired film and Tv serial production manager
Aruna Gnanadason, Indian Christian Women’s Movement
Ashish Ghosh , Retired teacher
Navjot Altaf , Artist
Susie Jacob Tharu, Academic
Ranjona Banerji, Independent journalist
Ravindra Kulkarni, Senior Solicitor
Terence Gonsalves, Retired
Stanley Fernandez , Citizens for the Constitution
Pradip Mario D’Lima, Subsea Operations & HSEQ
Devdan Tribhuvan, Christian Development Association
David, Mentor Coach
Lekshmi Krishnan
Vani, Program Manager
Aroon DSouza , Demat Share Consultant
Shakuntala kulkarni, Artist
Benito Saldanha, Business
Prabhat Sharan , Journalist
Nio Va, writer and activist
Raymond Nogueira, Business/Proprietor/RedRay Engineers
Suraj Samrat
Catherine John, Nursing
Satish Londhe
Ramesh C
Sharmila F
Surendra Deonalli, Retired
Nanda Ghosh, Activist and Poet, Assam
Megan Gonsalves
Preeti Reddy, Retired
Dr. Vivek Korde, Doctor
DR. VIVEK KORDE, Doctor
Maureen D’Sa, Retired
Gloria, Retired
Rochelle Dsouza
Megan Gonsalves
Faraz Ahmad , Journalist
Dr Asha Saxena Ahmad, Opthalmologist
Errol Mario DeSilva ,
Pyara Lal Garg, DOCTOR PROFESSOR
Related:
Bengal after the Ballot: Fear, retaliation and the politics of territorial power