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More of Us Will Speak Every Day: Another 650 Add Their Names to Open Letter

ICF Team |
More people are sending in their endorsements as we release this. The Indian Cultural Forum will publish updates every day, and keep count of those who speak against the silencing of citizens’ voices.
Open Letter

An FIR has been lodged against forty-nine of our colleagues in the cultural community, simply because they performed their duty as respected members of civil society. They wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, expressing concern about mob lynching in our country.

Can this be called an act of sedition? Or is harassment by misusing the courts a ploy to silence citizens’ voices?

All of us, as members of the Indian cultural community, as citizens of conscience, condemn such harassment. We do more: we endorse every word of the letter our colleagues wrote to the Prime Minister. This is why we share their letter here once again, and appeal to the cultural, academic and legal communities to do the same. This is why more of us will speak every day. Against mob lynching. Against the silencing of people’s voices. Against the misuse of courts to harass citizens.

Text of open letter written to Prime Minister Modi on 23 July 2019 by 49 eminent citizens, including Aparna Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, Ashis Nandy and Ramachandra Guha:

We, as peace loving and proud Indians, are deeply concerned about a number of tragic events that have been happening in recent times in our beloved country.

Our Constitution describes India as a secular socialist democratic republic where citizens of all religions, ethnicities, gender and castes are equal. Hence, to ensure that every citizen enjoys the rights given to her/him by the Constitution, our submission is:

1. The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) reports that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions.

Further, 254 religious identity-based hate crimes were reported between January 1, 2009, and October 29, 2018, where at least 91 persons were killed and 579 were injured (FactChecker.in database, October 30, 2018). The Citizen's Religious Hate-Crime Watch recorded that Muslims, (14% of India's population) were the victims in 62% for cases, and Christians (2% of the population), in 14% cases. About 90% of these attacks were reported after May 2014, when your Government assumed power nationally.

You have criticized such lynchings in Parliament Mr. Prime Minister, but that is not enough! What action has actually been taken against the perpetrators? We strongly feel that such offences should be declared non-bailable, and that exemplary punishment should be meted out swiftly and surely. If life imprisonment without parole can be the sentence in cases of murder, why not for lynchings, which are even more heinous? No citizen should have to live in fear in his/her own country!

Regrettably "Jai Sri Ram" has become a provocative 'war-cry' today that leads to law and order problems, and many lynchings take place in its name. It is shocking to see so much violence perpetrated in the name of religion! These are not the Middle Ages! The name of Ram is sacred to many in the majority community of India. As the highest Executive of this country, you must put a stop to the name of Ram being defiled in this manner.

2. There is no democracy without dissent. People should not be branded ‘anti-national’ or 'urban Naxal' and incarcerated because of dissent against the Government. Article 19 of the Constitution of India protects freedom of speech and expression of which dissent is an integral part.

Criticising the ruling party does not imply criticising the nation. No ruling party is synonymous with the country where it is in power. It is only one of the political parties of that country. Hence anti-government stands cannot be equated with anti-national sentiments. An open environment where dissent is not crushed, only makes for a stronger nation.

We hope our suggestions will be taken in the spirit that they are meant – as Indians genuinely concerned with, and anxious about, the fate of our nation.

Read the statement in Urdu here.
Read the statement in Tamil here.

Aarti Aney Kamal Vora Ronodeb Paul
Abadan Khan Amitava Kanad Sinha Roop Rekha Verma
Abeer Chakravarty Kanti Mohan Soj Roshmi Goswami
Abha Bhaiya Karen Gabriel Rosinka Chaudhuri
Abhay Kumar Karthika Nair Rupa Chinaif
Abhijit Roy Karuna Jha S Irfan Habib
Abhijit Sengupta Kausik Mukhopadhyay Sabby Nanu
Aditi Banerjee Kavita Singh Sabyasachi Chatterjee
Aditi Rajeev KB Garg Sachidanand Sinha
Aditya Nigam KE Radhakrishna Sachin Desai
AI Khan Ketaki Dutt Sadia Wahidi
Aimee Wadia Keval Arora Sameer Chib
Ajai Singh Khalid Alvi Sameera Iyengar
Ajas Hyzer Khalid Ashraf Sameera Jain
Ajay Kumar Kiran Singh Samir Khurana
Ajayan Adat Kirity Roy Sanal Kumar Sasidharan
Albeena Shakil Kirtana Kumar Sandeep Meel
Ali Imam Khan Kirti Jain Sandhya Srinivasan
Alok Bajpai Kirty Roy Sangeetha Mathew
Amandeep Sandhu KM Shrimali Sanghita Sen
Amarjeet Kaur KM Srinivasa Gowda Sangita Gairola
Ambar Shrivasatava Komita Dhanda Sanjay Kumar Sinha
Ambika Devi Kopparthy Venkata Ramana Murthy Sanjay Madhav
Ambika Tandon KP Sasi Sanjna Kapoor
Amit Rai Krishnaraj Chonat Sanjoop KP
Amita Chatterjee Krishnaswamy S Sankar Varma
Amita Joseph Kristine Michael Santanu Mandal
Amitabh Pandey Kumar Ketkar Santhi Vakulabharanam
Amitabha Basu Kumar Prashant Santosh Jha
Amiti Sen Kumkum Roy Sara Rai
Amman Madan Kundan Tuteja Saroop Dhruv
Amrit Rajkhowa L Ramdas Saswati Sengupta
Anand K Sahay Lalit Vachani Sathya S
Anand Mathew Lalita Ramdas Satish Chand Abbi
Anand Swarup Verma Lara Jaydha Satyajit Rath
Anil Bhatti Lata Singh Satyendra Kumar
Anil Gangal Lavanya Saumya Baijal
Anil Kumar Singh Laxmi Murthy Saumyajit Bhattacharya
Anil Roy Laxminarayan Ramdas Saurabh Bajpai
Anirudh Nair Lillete Dubey Saurabh Naruka
Anit Maria Joseph Lima Kanungo Savita Tripathy
Anita Cherian Lubna Sarwath Savithri Singh
Anita Dighe M Mohanty Sebastian Joseph
Anita Dube M Sathyam Seetharama B
Anita Rampal Maansi Shah Sehba Farooqui
Anita Vachharajani Madan Lal Hind Sethumadhavan
Anjali Mathur Madhavi Menon Shabari Rao
Anjali Purohit Madhu Bhushan Shabnam Hashmi
Anju Dodiya Madhuchhanda Karlekar Shah Alam Khan
Anmol Vellani Mahendra Ved Shai Heredia
Anna Dani Mahesh Darpan Shaibani Azam
Annie Koshi Mahesh Kumar Shailendra Asthana
Anshul Sharma Maimoona Mollah Shaili Sathyu
Antara Dev Sen Makarand Sathe Shakun Doundiyakhed
Antony Thomas Malasree Dasgupta Shalinee Tripathi
Anu Bal Manas Ghosh Shamik Sen Gupta
Anuja Ghosalkar Manasi Shamim Ahmed
Anupama Potluri Manisha Chaudhry Shampa Roy
Anupama Srinivasan Manju Kapur Shamya Dasgupta
Anuradha Chenoy Manmohan Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri
Anuradha Lobo Manoj Sharma Shantha Sinha
Anvita Abbi Manorama Sharma Sharad Raj
Aparna Andhare Mansi Bhatt Sharada Sathe
Apoorva CA Manthan Samayiki Sharda Ugra
Apurba Baruah Manu Chakravarthy N Sharifa Vijaliwala
Archana Prasad Mariam Fatima Sharmila Joshi
Arijit Sen Maya Joshi Shaswati Mazumdar
Arjumand Ara Meena Gupta Shaveta Sharma
Arpita Das Meena Gupta Shavez Waris
Arshia Sattar Meera Devidayal Sheeba Chadha
Arundhati Roy Megha Pansare Sheo Dutt
Arunima G Mehak Talwar Sherna Gandhy
Arunkumar HG Mercy Kappen Shernaz Vakil
Arya Rajam Mercy Margaret Shireen Jungalwala
Asghar Wajahat MG Husain Shirish Parab
Asha Hans Minakshi Rajdev Shiv Shankar Mukherjee
Asha Mishra Mithileshwar Shobha Naresh
Ashish Dasgupta Mohammad Faheem Shobha Singh
Ashlin Mathew Mohan Rao Shobhit Mahajan
Ashok Rao Mohd Zubair Idrisi Shobhna Jain
Ashok Salian Mohini Gulrajani Shreyasi Dastidar
Ashoke Ranjan Thakur Moses Suchith Shripad Bhat
Ashutosh Kumar Mridula Mukherjee Shruti Bijnoria
Asma Menon Mridula Shankar Shubha
Astad Deboo Mrinal Shukla Sawant
Atul Dodiya Mrityunjay Sitanath Lahkar
Atul Gurtu MS Murali Krishna SK Das
Atul Kumar MS Prakash Babu SK Pande
Atul Pethe Mukunda Rao Smriti Kapoor
Atul Sood N S Goswami Sohail Hashmi
Audrey Truschke Nadeem Rezavi Somashekarappa Hiriyur Mallaiah
Avalokita Dutt Nalin Ranjan Singh Sonal Kellogg
Avijit Dutt Namita Singh Sonia Sarkar
Avinash Kumar Namrata Sen Souparna Lahiri
Ayushya Kaul Nandana Reddy Souradeep Roy
Bajrang Bihari Nandini Rao SP Ambrose
Basavaraj Urs Nandita Basu Sreedhara Murthy
Batul Mukhtiar Nandita Narain Srimanjari Ballal
BB Choudhary Nandita Rao Srinivas Kakkilaya
Bharat Singh Meena Narain Bairath Sriram MS
Bharati Jagannathan Narbhinder Sriram Srinivasan
Bhaskar Chattopadhyay Naresh Dadhich Subba Ghosh
Bijayini Satpathy Naresh Prerna Subhadra Channa
Bina Agarwal Naresh Saxena Subhangini Thorat
Bose Krishnamachari Nataraj Honnavalli Subhash Malik
Bratati Pande Navnita Chadha Behera Subhro Bandopadhyay
BS Prakash Navsharan Singh Subir Dey
Carol Rao Nayana Pai Subodh Bedre
Chanchal Chauhan Neel Chaudhuri Sucheta Mahajan
Chandra Dev Ola Neelam Gupta Sudarshan Shetty
Chandranath Ray Neelam Jeena Sudeshna Banerjee
Chandrashekhar Phansalkar Neha Singh Sudha Chaudhari
Chandrika Parmar Nikhat Reaz Sudha Nagavarapu
Chhaya Datar Nikhil Jois Sudhanshi Vasudev
Chinki Sinha Nina Rao Sudhanshu Mishra
CP Chandrasekhar Nina Rao Sudhir Singh
CP Geevan Nipun Makkar Suhit Kelkar
CS Chandrika Nisha Biswas Sujay Saple
Cyril Mathias Nisshat Sheikh Sukhmani Riar
Dakxin Chhara Nivedita Menon Sumanta Banerjee
Debabrata Roy Laifungbam NP Hafiz Mohamad Sumi Krishna
Debjani Sengupta Nupur Basu Sunanda Bhat
Debmalya Ghosh Om Saini Sunanda Mehta
Deepak Sanan Padma Velaskar Sundar Burra
Deepak Sinha Padmaja Shaw Suneeta Chaturvedi
Deepika Pali Bhupinder Singh Sunetra Neogy
Deepika Tandon Pallavi MD Sunil Shanbag
Dev Desai Pankaj Bist Sunit Sinha
Devashish Makhija Pankaj Chaturvedi Sunita Viswanath
Devdan Chaudhuri Parikshit Dalal Sunitha Kumar Emmart
Devika Pariplab Chakraborty Sunny Dhiman
Devika Singh Parvathi Menon Supriya Chaudhuri
Dhirendra K Jha Parvez Ahmad Supriya Shukla
Dimple Oberoi Vahali Phaniraj K Surabhi Sharma
Dinesh Abrol Poonam Girdhani Suresh Babu
DN Jha Poonam Kaushik Suresh Chabria
Dolphy D’souza Poonam Tushamad Suresh Korati
Dunu Roy Prabal Agarwal Suresha B
Durga Bhavani S Prabha Pandey Surupa Sen
Faraz Ahmad Prabhjot Kaur Suryanarayana Reddy R
Faredoon Bhujwala Pradeep K Deb Susan
G Hariramamurthi Pradip Kumar Datta Susan Barton
G Rajashekhar Prakash Bare Sushant Shalini
G Ramakrishna Prakash Chaturvedi Sushi Kadanakuppe
Gafoor Karuvannur Pramod Bagde Sushma Varma
Gajendra Narayan Sharma Pramod Kale Sushma Veerappa
Gargi Bharadwaj Pramod Kumar Sushmit Ghosh
Gautam Bhattacharya Prashant Mukherjee Svati Shah
Gautam Krishnankutty Pratap Bhanu Mehta Swapna Liddle
Geeta Mahashabde Pratishtha Pandya Swarn Kanta
Geeta Seshu Praveer Peter T Surendra Rao
Geetha Mehra Prem Jha Tabasheer Zutshi
Geetha Thoopal Prem Kumar Vijayan Talib Khwaja
Geetika Vidya Ohlyan Pritam Paul Tani Bhargava
Ghanshyam Shah Prithpal Sehdave Tanwir Akhtar
Ghasi Ram Chaudhry Priya Sarukkai Chabria Tara Rao
Ghazala Jamil Priyanka Pathak Tariq Khan
Gigi Scaria Punam Zutshi Tasneem Fatima
Giitanjali Chiya Purushothama Bilimale Tathagata Bhattacharya
Giriraj Kishore Pushpamala N Tejal Kanitkar
Glenissa Pereira Qaiser Shamim Thelma Taylor
Goddanti Omkarnath R Nagaraj Tiny Shah Singh
Gopal Menon R Padmini TK Rajalakshmi
Gopika Nath Radha Kumar TK Thomas
Govind Ram Radhika Chadha TM Thomas
Gowreesh Kapani Radhika Menon Tony Sequeira
Gudavarthy Vijay Raghu Godavarthi Udit Yadav
Gun Nidhi Raghvendra Raghav Ujjwal K Chowdhury
Gurjit Singh Cheema Rahul Chandra Ullattil Achu
Gurpreet Sidhu Rahul Kumar Ishwar Upendra Shankar
H Pattabhirama Somayaji Rajan Gurukkal Usha Rai
Habib Khan Rajani Mani Utsa Patnaik
Harish Khare Rajat Datta V Alan Bosco
Harsh Kapoor Rajat Nagpal Vaasanthi
Hemendra Chandaliya Rajeev Bhargava Vagish K Jha
Himmat Seth Rajesh Joshi Vakulabharanam Ramakrishna
Hiralal Rajasthani Rajesh Kumar Valerie Baliwalla
Iliyas Husain Rajesh Umadevi Srinivas Vani Subramanian
Imrana Khan Rajiv Gupta Vani Verma
Inder Salim Rakesh Gupta Vasudha Dalmia
Indira Unninayar Rakhi Basu Vasundhara Chauhan
Indranee Dutta Ram Rahman Veena Hariharan
Indrapramit Roy Ramchandra PN Veena Naregal
Indu Agnihotri Ramesh Bajaj Venita Coelho
Indu Chandrasekhar Ramesha Venugopal Rao
Iqbal Niyazi Ramona Adhikari Vibha Puri Das
Ishrat Syed Ramsharan Joshi Vickram Crishna
Jahangir Asghar Jani Ramya Pothukuchi Vidya Das Arora
Jahar Kanungo Ranabir Samaddar Vidya Vakulabharanam
Jai Arjun Singh Randhir Singh Vidyut Gore
Jaiwanti Shukla Rani Day Burra Vijay Crishna
Jamsheed Rizwani Ranjani Shettar Vijay Padaki
Janarthanan T Ranjith Shankaran Vijay Swami
Jasleen Randhawa Rashme Sehgal Vikas Maniar
Jatin Sheth Rashmi Sawhney Vikash kumar
Jawhar Sircar Rashmitha Tulabandula Juvvadi Vikash Narain Rai
Jaya Iyer Rasika Agashe Vikram Iyengar
Jaya Rani Ratna Raman Vikram Tandon
Jayant Pawar Ravi Avasthi Vilasini Kumar
Jayaprakash Nd Ravi Bhushan Vimala KS
Jayati Ghosh Ravi Nair Vineet Tiwari
Jeevan Singh Ravi Sidlipura Vineetabh
Jeroo Mulla Ravi Srivastava Vineetabh Kumar
Jhuma Sen Ravikumar Kashi Vinyasa Hegade
Joseph Mathai Ravinder Banyal Vipin Balguher
Joyanti Sen Rekha Rao Vipin Negi
Jyotsana Asthana Rekha Verma Virkein Dhar
Jyotsna Lall Richa Raj Vishakha Chanchani
K John Koshy Ridhima Mehra Vishnu Prabhakar
K Laxmi Narayana Rimli Bhattacharya Wasi Haider
Kalpana Chakravarthy Rina Kamath Winston Dsouza
Kalpana Kannabiran Rinchin Yasir Abbasi
Kalpana Swaminathan Rintu Thomas Zafar Agha
Kalyani Chaudhuri Ritambhara Shastri Zaheer Ali
Kamakshi Balasubramanian Ritwik Banerjee Zahoor Siddiqui
Kamal Chenoy Rizio Yohannan Zasha Colah
Kamal Nayan Kabra Rohan Dsouza  
Courtesy: ICF

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