Petition Signed by Noam Chomsky in Support of JNU Movement : Exclusive

With what has been going on in JNU and JU and all over the country in the last few days,there is not much left to say.We have crossed the stage where we could have helped ourselves with intellectual assistance and analytical discussions.The entire nation is at war and whatever's tranquil is not going to be in another couple of weeks.
In Kanhaiya's speech,all he ever said was that protest against capital punishment is legal and it absolutely is,in a democratic country like ours.So,if the murder of the 36 officials in the Vyapam scam was "accidental" and the rise of Modi by joining hands with the corporate world "very arbitary" and the murder of M.M Kalburgi "justified" and if the farmer suicides have turned into a "fashion trend" and if the arrival of ABVP at our very own Jadavpur University Campus "a democratic choice",then the condition of democracy now in India is pitiful.
Kanhaiya Kumar's speech does not have anything that supports sedition or secessionism.His "fault" was perhaps that he spoke openly about Marxism and the Dalit issue and Rohit Vemula's institutional murder and that if sending awful messages showing disrespect to his mother and sister was the trend,then the compulsion for accepting the Bharat Maata concept is meaningless.Lakhs of Dalit women are never respected,have never been for thousands of years.We aren't living in the Medieval age that the king would command someone's arrest or condemn just any freethinker on his will or wish.The will is ours.The will is of the people.

86 Academicians from world famous educational institutions have officially supported the JNU movement and this includes Noam Chomsky and Nobel Laureate Turkish author Orhan Pamuk.

Here is the original petition that I received from Noam Chomsky this morning.I had previously requested him to say a word or two on this issue and after he mentioned the petition,which never was covered by any news corporation,this was all that I wanted to get my hands on.It was sent to him by his friend Akeel Bilgrami, a philosopher at Columbia University.
An earnest thanks to Professor for his kindness and help on this issue.We would be truly grateful for this.




The Petition Signed by Noam Chomsky In Support of The JNU Movment

We have learnt of the shameful act of the Indian government which, invoking sedition laws formulated by India’s colonial rulers, ordered the police to enter the Jawaharlal University campus and unlawfully arrest a student leader, Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar, on charges of inciting violence --without any proof whatever of such wrongdoing on his part.  


From the reports of a large number of witnesses and the most highly respected journalists in the country, these are the known facts that no impartial observer denies: In a student meeting, acting well within the rights he possesses by the law of the land, Mr.
Kumar spoke critically of the BJP government’s policies. On the previous day, at some other event which he had no part in organizing and at which he did not speak, a handful of other students, not even identifiable as students of the university, were shouting slogans about the rights of Kashmiris to independence from Indian military oppression over the last many decades.  Mr. Kumar, whose speech (widely available on a video) cannot in any way be connected with the slogans uttered on the previous day, was nonetheless arrested for ‘anti-national’ behaviour and for violating the sedition laws against the incitement to violence. Since there is no evidence to establish these charges, we can only conclude that this arrest is further evidence of the present government’s deeply authoritarian nature, intolerant of any dissent against it, setting aside India’s longstanding commitment to toleration and plurality of opinion, replicating the dark times of an oppressive colonial period and briefly of the Emergency in the mid-1970s. 

These actions of the police has brought great dishonor to the government; and the failure of the Vice-Chancellor to speak out against these actions and moreover to allow the suspension of seven other students on charges that have not been established by a fair and transparent inquiry, will bring great dishonor to the most prominent university in the country in the eyes of the academy all over the world. 

We, the undersigned, take a stand of heartfelt solidarity with the students and faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University in their efforts to resist these developments on its campus and, in the name of the liberties that India and Indian universities until recently could take for granted, we not only condemn the culture of authoritarian menace that the present government in India has generated, but urge all those genuinely concerned about the future of India and Indian universities to protest in wide mobilization against it. 





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2 Comments

  1. The challenge appears one for the Judicial system, is the Indian Justice system awake enough ?

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    Replies
    1. It varies,to be honest.And the entire system,no matter which plank you are talking about depends on the amount of capital you have in your hands.

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