PoliticsSIR protests
Over 400 Indian-origin scholars abroad condemn 'anarchic' street protests over SIR
A statement titled 'Spare India from Anarchy', signed by students, researchers and alumni in 27 countries, urges parties to settle differences inside constitutional institutions.
Key points
- More than 400 signatories from universities in 27 countries put their names to the statement.
- It accuses unnamed forces of a "devious plan" to sow doubt in Indian democracy.
- The signatories invoke B R Ambedkar's warning against the "grammar of anarchy".
More than 400 students, researchers and alumni of Indian origin at universities in 27 countries have signed a statement condemning what they call “anarchic” street protests and attempts to weaken trust in India’s constitutional institutions.
The statement, titled “Spare India from Anarchy”, circulated on Monday as protests over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls continue. It does not say who drafted it. Signatories are linked to institutions including Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the London School of Economics and the National University of Singapore.
“An unconscionable and devious plan of sowing seeds of doubt in Indian democracy has been hatched,” the statement says. It argues that matters still before the courts are being used to cast doubt on Indian democracy, and that street agitations are being used to delegitimise democratic processes.
The signatories urge all social and political groups to settle their differences through debate, discussion and dissent within constitutional institutions. “We urge all social and political forces to take cognisance of our distress and desires,” they write. “India needs to set an example for the democratic world, for all the right reasons.”
They lean on B R Ambedkar, quoting his call to “abandon the bloody methods of revolution”, which he called “the grammar of anarchy”.
Named signatories include Surabhi Hodigere of Harvard, Devansh Sharma and Samyukta Shrivatsa of Stanford, Ashik Mayakonda of Cambridge, and Nitish Rai Parwani, Ashish Gaurav, Shaoni Kar and Mukund Madhav Sharma of Oxford. Others are from the University of Manchester and South Korea’s Yeungnam University.
The statement comes as opposition parties and the Cockroach Janta Party keep up their campaign against the revision and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with farmers’ groups and trade unions planning district-level protests on Friday.