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It’s a Mockery of Democracy, Say Over 200 Writers, Cultural Activists on Kashmir Situation

We condemn government’s division of people and territories from above, subverting the very basis of our constitutional federalism, says statement by A Mangai, Amitav Ghosh, Ashok Vajpeyi, Nayantara Sahgal, TM Krishna, Githa Hariharan among others.
A Kashmiri woman wipes her tears while listening to a story of a Kashmiri man at a function in New Delhi where compatriots gathered to observe Eid. | Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

Image Courtesy: scroll.in A Kashmiri woman wipes her tears while listening to a story of a Kashmiri man at a function in New Delhi where compatriots gathered to observe Eid. | Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

By revoking the special status of Jammu & Kashmir and splitting it up into two union territories, the central government has made a mockery of democracy. It has violated the solemn promises made to the state of Jammu & Kashmir by the Union of India during the accession of the state in 1947.  

The abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the breakup of the state has been executed unilaterally, clandestinely and coercively. The people — across religious, cultural, ethnic and ideological segments — have not been consulted. Indeed, the unprecedented security and information clampdown in the state since 5th August 2019 is proof of the government’s fear of popular discontent and democratic dissent.  

We, Indians who are writers, artists, media persons and cultural activists, condemn the undemocratic and unconstitutional moves of the government in Jammu & Kashmir. We condemn the government’s division of people and territories from above, subverting the very basis of our constitutional federalism. We condemn the state of siege imposed on the people of a state already suffering for many long years.  

We demand that the state of siege in Jammu & Kashmir be lifted, and all basic freedoms — including those of free expression, communication and media freedoms — be restored with immediate effect. We demand the restoration of Article 370, and the restoration of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. We declare our solidarity with the Kashmiri people, and call on all our fellow citizens to resist this authoritarian challenge to the freedom and autonomy of Jammu & Kashmir. 

Read the statement in Hindi here.

For the Indian Writers Forum

1 A Mangai 81 K R Meera 161 Sanjay Joshi
2 Abhay Maurya 82 K Satchidanandan 162 Sanjay Rajoura
3 Abhinava Bhattacharya 83 Kalpana Swaminathan 163 Sanjeev Kaushal
4 Achin Vanaik 84 Kanti Mohan 164 Sanjeev Kumar
5 Ajay Kamalakaran 85 Kanupriya Sharma 165 Sara Joseph
6 Ajitha GS 86 Karthik Venkatesh 166 Sara Rai
7 Akeel Bilgrami 87 Karthika Nair 167 Sethumadhavan
8 Ali Javed 88 Kavery Nambisan 168 Shabnam Hashmi
9 Alok Rai 89 Kiran Nagarkar 169 Sharankumar Limbale
10 Amandeep Sandhu 90 Leena Manimekalai 170 Shashi Deshpande
11 Ami Sanyal 91 M A Baby 171 Shastri Ramachandran
12 Amit Bhaduri 92 Madhu Bhaduri 172 Shaswati Mazumdar
13 Amit Chaudhuri 93 Madhusree Dutta 173 Sheba Chhachhi
14 Amitav Ghosh 94 Makarand Sathe 174 Shoma A Chatterji
15 Ammu Joseph 95 Mangad Rathnakaran 175 Shyam B Menon
16 Anand Swaroop Verma 96 Mangalesh Dabral 176 Shyama Dasgupta
17 Anand Teltumbde 97 Manishi Jani 177 Simar Puneet
18 Ananya Parikh 98 Manoj Kulkarni 178 Skye Arundhati Thomas
19 Ananya Vajpeyi 99 Maria Couto 179 Sohail Hashmi
20 Ania Loomba 100 Martin Macwan 180 Sonia Jabbar
21 Anitha Thampi 101 Maya Palit 181 Srilata K
22 Apoorvanand 102 Maya Pandit 182 Subhash Gatade
23 Aritry Das 103 Meena Kandasamy 183 Sudhanva Deshpande
24 Arundhati Dhuru 104 Megha Pansare 184 Sudhir Chandra
25 Arundhati Ghosh 105 Moloyashree Hashmi 185 Tejal Kanitkar
26 Arvind Krishna Mehrotra 106 Mridula Koshy 186 TM Krishna
27 Asad Zaidi 107 Mukul Kesavan 187 Uday Narkar
28 Ashok Vajpeyi 108 Murli Manohar Prasad Singh 188 Unni R
29 Ashokan Charuvil 109 N P Chandrasekharan 189 Vaasanthi Sundaram
30 Ashutosh Kumar 110 N P Chekkutty 190 Valay Singh
31 Atamjit Singh 111 N P Hafiz Mohamad 191 Venita Coelho
32 Ayesha Kidwai 112 Naina Dayal 192 Venkitesh Ramakrishnan
33 B R P Bhaskar 113 Nalin Ranjan Singh 193 Vibha Maurya
34 Badri Raina 114 Namita Singh 194 Vijay Prashad
35 Bali Singh 115 Nandini Sundar 195 Vijaya Venkataraman
36 Bama 116 Nandita Narain 196 Vikas Narayan Rai
37 Bezwada Wilson 117 Nayantara Sahgal 197 Vineet Tiwari
38 Bhasha Singh 118 Neelan Premji 198 Vishnu Nagar
39 Bina Sarkar Ellias 119 Neelanjan Mukhopadhyaya 199 Vishwanath Tripathi
40 C P Aboobacker 120 Neeraj Malik 200 Vivan Sundaram
41 C S Chandrika 121 Nikhil Narkar 201 Vivek Narayanan
42 Chaman Lal 122 Nilanjana Roy 202 Zahoor Sidiqui
43 Chanchal Chauhan 123 Nirupama Dutt 203 Zoya Hasan
44 Chandrakant Patil 124 Nityanand Tiwari 204 Ajai Singh
45 Civic Chandran 125 Nupur Asher 205 Usa Rai
46 Dalip Kaur Tiwana 126 Orijit Sen 206 Kiran Singh
47 Damodar Mauzo 127 P N Gopikrishnan 207 Shobha Singh
48 Danish Husain 128 P Sainath 208 Shreemoyee Moitra
49 Debaditya Bhattacharya 129 Pamela Philipose 209 Sahej Rahel
50 Dileep Chavan 130 Pankaj Bisht 210 Krishnan Unni P
51 Dilip Borkar 131 Perumal Murugan 211 Indu Chandrasekhar
52 Divya Bharathi 132 Prabhat Patnaik 212 Vidya Rao
53 E V Ramakrishnan 133 Prabodh Parikh 213 Natasha Ginwala
54 Ebbar Rabbi 134 Prarvathi Ramanathan 214 Pallavi Paul
55 G Arunima 135 Rahman Abbas 215 Anuradha Kapur
56 G N Devy 136 Rahul Roy 216 Urmilesh
57 G P Ramachandran 137 Rajendra Chenni 217 Abhishek Majumdar
58 Gauhar Raza 138 Rajendra Rajan    
59 Geeta Kapur 139 Rajendra Sharma    
60 Geetanjali Shree 140 Rajesh Joshi    
61 Githa Hariharan 141 Rajesh Saklani    
62 Gopi Krishnan 142 Rajib Ray    
63 Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar 143 Ram Prakash Tripathi    
64 Hariyash Rai 144 Ram Rahman    
65 Harsh Mander 145 Raosaheb Kasbe    
66 Hirala Rajasthani 146 Rekha Awasthi    
67 Huchangi Prasad 147 Ritu Menon    
68 Indira Jaising 148 Rosalyn D'mello    
69 Ishrat Syed 149 Rukmini Bhaya Nair    
70 J Devika 150 S Raghunandana    
71 J V Pawar 151 Saba Dewan    
72 Javed Malick 152 Sadanand Menon    
73 Jawari Mal Parakh 153 Sahiram    
74 Jeet Thayil 154 Saleem Peeradina    
75 Jenifer Areng Datta 155 Salil Chaturvedi    
76 Jerry Pinto 156 Salim Yusufji    
77 K G Shankara Pillai 157 Sambhaji Bhagat    
78 K N Panikkar 158 Samik Bandyopadhyay    
79 K Neela 159 Sandeep Pandey    
80 K P Ramanunni 160 Sanjay Bohidar

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