Assault on Democracy
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The President of India
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The President of India,
Rashtrapati Bhavan,
New Delhi 110 004.
Dear Madam Visitor,
Subject: Assault on Democracy
On 18 February 2010, the Delhi Police presented a charge-sheet against Mr. Kobad Ghandy. This document also alleges criminal activities, and support for criminal activities, against several individuals and organisations that have been active in safeguarding and promoting civil and democratic rights, for several decades now. These organisations and individuals have been actively protesting the violation of civil and democratic rights of large numbers of people in the context of Operation Green Hunt the governments military offensive against Maoists. Several of those affected by the allegations in the charge-sheet are members of the academic community of Universities in Delhi, who also happen to share in the work and activities of the organisations identified in it.
The allegations against these individuals and organisations are utterly baseless and unsubstantiated; they consequently appear to be motivated solely by the governments intention to silence all such protests, and to criminalise all such legitimate and democratic activities. This is in continuation with intensifying attempts by the state to curtail spaces for democratic dissent and protest, within and outside the university, and indeed, to erode the very principles of democracy.
Worldwide, universities have traditionally been a crucial space for freedom of expression, the exploration of ideas and critical debate. They have always been, and should always be, sites where even the strongest critique of the state can be in fact, must and should be made possible. This is an essential character, not just of the university as an institution, but of the democratic principles of the society it exists in. The attempt to silence these individuals and organisations, therefore constitutes an assault on this very fundamental essence of the university, as well as on the character of democratic society.
We would like to unequivocally affirm that, for the university to remain a space in which democratic principles and practices are sacrosanct and inviolable, the voices that emerge from it must be allowed to do so freely. We consequently also strongly condemn attempts like the baseless allegations in the charge-sheet, to violate precisely this quality of the university and its community.
We request you, in your capacity as Visitor of Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, to intervene and protect the universities and their communities from such assaults. We also request you to ensure that the individuals and organisations targeted in the charge-sheet are not victimised by the baselessly punitive and retributive actions of the state, and that their civil and democratic rights are upheld.
Rashtrapati Bhavan,
New Delhi 110 004.
Dear Madam Visitor,
Subject: Assault on Democracy
On 18 February 2010, the Delhi Police presented a charge-sheet against Mr. Kobad Ghandy. This document also alleges criminal activities, and support for criminal activities, against several individuals and organisations that have been active in safeguarding and promoting civil and democratic rights, for several decades now. These organisations and individuals have been actively protesting the violation of civil and democratic rights of large numbers of people in the context of Operation Green Hunt the governments military offensive against Maoists. Several of those affected by the allegations in the charge-sheet are members of the academic community of Universities in Delhi, who also happen to share in the work and activities of the organisations identified in it.
The allegations against these individuals and organisations are utterly baseless and unsubstantiated; they consequently appear to be motivated solely by the governments intention to silence all such protests, and to criminalise all such legitimate and democratic activities. This is in continuation with intensifying attempts by the state to curtail spaces for democratic dissent and protest, within and outside the university, and indeed, to erode the very principles of democracy.
Worldwide, universities have traditionally been a crucial space for freedom of expression, the exploration of ideas and critical debate. They have always been, and should always be, sites where even the strongest critique of the state can be in fact, must and should be made possible. This is an essential character, not just of the university as an institution, but of the democratic principles of the society it exists in. The attempt to silence these individuals and organisations, therefore constitutes an assault on this very fundamental essence of the university, as well as on the character of democratic society.
We would like to unequivocally affirm that, for the university to remain a space in which democratic principles and practices are sacrosanct and inviolable, the voices that emerge from it must be allowed to do so freely. We consequently also strongly condemn attempts like the baseless allegations in the charge-sheet, to violate precisely this quality of the university and its community.
We request you, in your capacity as Visitor of Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, to intervene and protect the universities and their communities from such assaults. We also request you to ensure that the individuals and organisations targeted in the charge-sheet are not victimised by the baselessly punitive and retributive actions of the state, and that their civil and democratic rights are upheld.
146 Signatures
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sharmila purkayastha
- Institution/Organisation
- miranda house
- State/Country
- delhi
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PK Vijayan
- Institution/Organisation
- Hindu College, Delhi University
- State/Country
- Delhi, India
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Ashok Prasad
- Institution/Organisation
- Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia
- State/Country
- USA
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Ramaa Vasudevan
- Institution/Organisation
- Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia
- State/Country
- USA
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Ravinder Goel
- Institution/Organisation
- Satyawti College (Eve.) DU & DU Reservation Execution Committee
- State/Country
- Delhi,India
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Anirban
- Institution/Organisation
- Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University
- State/Country
- Delhi, India
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Pratyush Chandra
- Institution/Organisation
- Radical Notes
- State/Country
- Delhi
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ravi
- Institution/Organisation
- N/A
- State/Country
- Oregon, USA
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Girish Agrawal
- Institution/Organisation
- Independent Lawyer & Legal Researcher
- State/Country
- USA
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Prasad Boddupalli
- Institution/Organisation
- N/A
- State/Country
- Sunnyvale, USA
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Gilbert Sebastian
- Institution/Organisation
- Researcher, Lodi Road
- State/Country
- Delhi, India
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Vijay Singh
- Institution/Organisation
- Member, Academic Council, University of Delhi
- State/Country
- Delhi
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Balaji Narasimhan
- Institution/Organisation
- Independent
- State/Country
- USA
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veena naregal
- Institution/Organisation
- Institute of Economic Growth
- State/Country
- Delhi
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Amrapali (Tara)
- Institution/Organisation
- University of Delhi
- State/Country
- Delhi/India
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Jesse Knutson
- Institution/Organisation
- University of Chicago
- State/Country
- Delhi, India
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Abhijit Guha
- Institution/Organisation
- Dept. of Anthropology,Vidyasagar University
- State/Country
- West Bengal, India
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Rakesh Ranjan
- Institution/Organisation
- Individual
- State/Country
- India
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Sumit Ray
- Institution/Organisation
- Go!Places
- State/Country
- New Delhi, India
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Kaveri Rajaraman
- Institution/Organisation
- Independent
- State/Country
- India
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Malay Firoz
- Institution/Organisation
- Delhi School of Economics
- State/Country
- New Delhi
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SACHIN N
- Institution/Organisation
- DYAL SINGH COLLEGE, DU
- State/Country
- DELHI
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Nandini Chandra
- Institution/Organisation
- Delhi University
- State/Country
- India
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ROHIT JAIN
- Institution/Organisation
- SRUTI
- State/Country
- India
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Anju Relan
- Institution/Organisation
- UCLA
- State/Country
- California, USA
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Karen Gabriel
- Institution/Organisation
- St Stephen's College, Delhi University
- State/Country
- INDIA
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Philomen Harrison
- Institution/Organisation
- Self-employed
- State/Country
- Trinidad and Tobago
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Kiran Asher
- Institution/Organisation
- Clark University
- State/Country
- USA
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Kamala Visweswaran
- Institution/Organisation
- University of Texas
- State/Country
- Austin, TX
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Piya Chatterjee
- Institution/Organisation
- University of California at Riverside
- State/Country
- California, USA
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Atreyi Dasgupta
- Institution/Organisation
- Sanhati
- State/Country
- USA
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Siddhartha Mitra
- Institution/Organisation
- Sanhati
- State/Country
- NY, USA
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Brian Stross
- Institution/Organisation
- The University of Texas at Austin
- State/Country
- Texas, U.S.A.
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P T Manolakos
- Institution/Organisation
- Sanhati
- State/Country
- USA
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Kaushik Ghosh
- Institution/Organisation
- University of Texas at Austin
- State/Country
- Texas/USA
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Koel Das
- Institution/Organisation
- sanhati
- State/Country
- USA
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Kumkum Roy
- Institution/Organisation
- Jawaharlal Nehru University
- State/Country
- New Delhi, India
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Bhumika Chauhan
- Institution/Organisation
- Correspondence Circle
- State/Country
- Delhi, India
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Dr. Madhu Aggrawal
- Institution/Organisation
- Principal, Tecnia Institute of Art and Design
- State/Country
- Delhi, India
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kanchana Natarajan
- Institution/Organisation
- Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla
- State/Country
- Himachal Pradesh India
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Julia Dutta
- Institution/Organisation
- Eklavya Foundation
- State/Country
- India
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Deepankar Basu
- Institution/Organisation
- University of Massachusetts
- State/Country
- USA
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Manali Chakrabarti
- Institution/Organisation
- Researcher
- State/Country
- India
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Sanjeev Kumar
- Institution/Organisation
- IGNOU
- State/Country
- DELHI
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Ratna Raman
- Institution/Organisation
- Sri Venkateswara College
- State/Country
- New Delhi
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debjani mazumder
- Institution/Organisation
- publisher
- State/Country
- delhi
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madhuresh kumar
- Institution/Organisation
- NAPM
- State/Country
- Delhi
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Kalpana Mehta
- Institution/Organisation
- Personal
- State/Country
- India
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Kavita Krishnan
- Institution/Organisation
- AIPWA
- State/Country
- Delhi
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Tapas Ranjan Saha
- Institution/Organisation
- Lecturer, Aurobindo College, DU, activist of Left and Democratic Teachers' Front
- State/Country
- Delhi
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146
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