This statement of solidarity was initiated by scholars abroad and in India who were shocked by the events that unfolded on January 5, 2020 on JNU campus. The statement garnered 8747 signatories, which included a wide range of scholars, writers, and members of civil society from all over the world. A selection of the list of signatories is included at the end of the statement below.
Solidarity Statement condemning the attack on the Students and Professors of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi on January 5, 2020
As teachers, researchers, students and concerned individuals in India and abroad, we strongly condemn the attack by masked goons (allegedly belonging to the ABVP) on unarmed JNU students and faculty on the evening of 5 January 2020 with rocks and rods while the police looked on.
Timeline of the attack and context
The JNU students have been on strike over the past few months against a steep fee hike, which will make the university inaccessible to the economically and socially marginalised sections. The unprovoked violence on the protesting students was started by the JNU security staff on January 4, who were ordered to break the strike. Later in the day, some ABVP activists were caught on camera attacking the protesting students. It was against this violence that the JNU Teachers’ Association had given a call for a peace meeting on campus on January 5, 2020. While the meeting was taking place, a group of masked goons from outside the campus started attacking the peacefully assembled students and teachers with rods and bricks. Eyewitnesses interviewed on NDTV suggest that more than 50 armed goons entered the campus around 6:30 pm.
Breakdown of campus security
There was a complete breakdown of campus security on January 5. Masked attackers were allowed to freely walk all across campus and systematically go from from one hostel to another intentionally searching for students involved in the protest against the fee hike. Videos have emerged from specific hostels with broken windows, showing large stones thrown around, and cars vandalized by masked goons. They entered women’s hostels even as campus security stood by silently.
News media is showing horrifying images of the attack on the JNUSU President, Aishe Ghosh — visibly bleeding and seriously injured. Currently, thirty students and thirteen faculty have been injured and are in the trauma centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). At least three of them including Ms. Ghosh are reportedly in critical condition. Media shared images of at least one faculty member, Professor Sucharita Sen who was also attacked and suffered head injuries.
Campus lock down and slow response of university administrators
Throughout the shocking attack, the JNU administration was extremely slow to respond even as students reported continued violence. Videos emerged from JNU showing very little visible presence of the police while the attack was underway. The Registrar of JNU issued a statement only at 9 PM, two hours after the attack had begun. The Vice Chancellor at the time of writing this statement has done little to reassure students or faculty of their physical wellbeing.
Why such violence? And why now?
JNU is a premier research university with a long history of inclusive admissions policies and a questioning academic culture. This attack has come twenty-three days after the police violence in Jamia Millia Islamia University, Aligarh Muslim University, and Cotton College against students and those peacefully dissenting against discriminatory policies of the government in India.
Instead of police, this time masked goons are deliberately creating a “culture of fear” on public university campuses. Except for one NDTV reporter, media was not provided access into the university. Yogendra Yadav, President of the Swaraj party, was stopped from entering the campus and was attacked for speaking to the media. Street lights were turned off outside the North Gate. Police inaction at JNU on January 5 enabled the attackers to proceed unhindered.
Public university campuses offer a safe, unarmed space for debate, discussion and learning for students from diverse regional and class backgrounds. They are the lifeblood of democracy. At a time when protests all over the country are emphasizing the need to protect the Indian Constitution and the basic principles of liberty, equality and the right to freedom of speech, the unprecedented attack on JNU students and faculty is unacceptable.
We are forced to conclude that the administration and the police were complicit in facilitating the attack.
- We demand that the Registrar Pramod Kumar and the University Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar take moral responsibility for their failure to guarantee the safety of their students and faculty. Such a total breakdown in campus safety is unconscionable.
- We demand prompt medical aid to those injured.
- We demand a fair and impartial inquiry into the events of January 5 that will hold the perpetrators of the attack accountable.
We stand in solidarity with our colleagues, students and faculty at JNU.
A selection of the list of signatories
1. Jinee Lokaneeta, Professor, Drew University
2. Bhavani Raman, Associate Professor, University of Toronto
3. Gopal Guru, Former Professor, JNU, Editor, EPW
4. Arjun Appadurai, Professor, New York University and Hertie School (Berlin)
5. Veena Das, Professor, Johns Hopkins University
6. David Harvey, Distinguished Professor, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
7. G N Devy, Chairman, People’s Linguistic Survey of India
8. Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford
9. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Distinguished Professor, Syracuse University
10. Joan Scott, Professor Emerita School of Social Science Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
11. Natalie Zemon Davis, Professor of History Emeritus, Princeton University
12. Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, Professor, New York University
13. Chayanika Shah, Member, LABIA - A Queer Feminist LBT Collective Mumbai
14. Geeta Seshu, Joint Founder-Editor, Free Speech Collective
15. Nandita Haksar, Advocate and Writer
16. Romila Thapar, Professor Emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University
17. Akeel Bilgrami, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University
18. Alladi Sitaram, Professor (Retd.), Indian Statistical Institute
19. Soni Sori, Activist, Bastar
20. Nirjhari Sinha, Chairperson Jan Sangharsh Manch, Ahmedabad
21. Rajesh Mahapatra Journalist
22. Shabnam Hashmi, Founding Trustee, Anhad
23. Ali Kazimi, Filmmaker and Associate Professor, York University, Canada
24. V. Geetha, Independent Scholar
25. Sugato Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University
26. Prof. C. Lakshmanan, Dalit Intellectual Collective
27. Saheli- Women's Resource Centre, Autonomous Women's Group
28. Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker
29. Rinaldo Walcott, Professor, University of Toronto
30. Utsa Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, JNU
31. Dolly Kikon, Faculty. The University of Melbourne
32. Anjali Monteiro, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
33. Tarun Bhartiya, Raiot Collective
34. Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
35. Jodi Dean, Professor, Hobart-William Smith
36. Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, JNU.
37. Premesh Lalu, Professor, Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape
38. Jayant Kripalani, Writer Actor
39. Francis Cody, Associate Professor, University of Toronto
40. Ujjwal Kumar Singh, University of Delhi
41. Chinnaiah Jangam, Associate Professor, Carleton University, ON, Canada
42. Rohan D'Souza, Associate Professor, Kyoto University
43. Sangay Mishra, Assistant Professor, Drew University
44. Malavika Kasturi, Department of History, University of Toronto
45. Dr Subir Sinha, SOAS, London
46. Aparna Balachandran, University of Delhi
47. Ruchi Chaturvedi,Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Town
48. Deborah Sutton, Lancaster University
49. Avinash K Jha, SRCC, DU
50. Nandini Bhattacharya, University of Dundee
51. Rochelle Pinto, Fellow, L'Institut d'Études Avancées
52. Mira Kamdar, Author
53. Deepak Mehta, Professor, Ashoka University
54. Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor, Columbia University
55. Prof. T. Dharmaraj Professor and Head, Madurai Kamaraj University
56. Reena Mohan, Filmmaker
57. U. Sabasiva Rao, Desi Disa , Bahul Bahujan voice
58. Shuddhabrata Sengupta Artist, Writer, Raqs Media Collective
59. Zoya Hasan , Professor Emerita, JNU
60. Deba Ranjan, Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakhya Sangthan, Odisha
61. Aienla Ozukum Publishing Director, Aleph Book Company
62. Seema Chishti, Journalist
63. Barbara Harriss-White, Visiting Prof CIS&LS JNU and Wolfson College Oxford University
64. Zillah Eisenstein, Prof Emerita, Ithaca College, NY, USA
65. Caren Kaplan, Professor Emerita, UC Davis
66. Shromona Mandal NYU Asian American Political Activism Coalition
67. Ambarish Rai, National Convener, Right to Education Forum
68. Priyamvada Gopal, University of Cambridge
69. Mary E John, Professor, CWDS
70. Vivek Shanbhag, Writer
71. Tejaswini Niranjana, Professor, Lingnan University Hong Kong
72. Geeta Kapur, Art Critic
73. Neeladri Bhattacharya, Former Professor, CHS, JNU
74. Rajeev Bhargava, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
75. Mimi Choudhury, Independent publisher
76. Sarbari Sinha, Deputy Editor Frontline
77. Gyan Prakash , Professor, Princeton University
78. Ania Loomba, Professor University of Pennsylvania
79. Chandler Davis, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
80. J Devika, Professor, Centre for Development Studies.
81. Satya P Mohanty, Professor, Cornell University
82. Keval Arora, Teacher, Delhi University
83. Nityanand Jayaraman, Writer, Social Activist, Chennai
84. Adrija Roychowdhury, Reporter, Hindustan times
85. Aditi Nigam, Journalist
86. Christopher Pinney, Professor UCL and GIAN lecturer at JNU
87. Imran Khan, Artist, Theatre I Entertainment Trust
88. Veena Bakshi, Director, Film Industry
89. Bedabrata Pain, film-maker and ex-NASA scientist
90. Usuf Chikte, Emeritus Professor, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
91. Ajantha Subramanian, Harvard University
92. Farzana Doctor, Author
93. T. Jayaraman, Professor, School of Habitat Studies
94. Tariq islam, Former Elected Member Executive Council and Member Academic Council,
Court, Former Chairman and Professor in Philosophy, AMU, Aligarh
95. R Vijaya Sankar, Editor, Frontline
96. Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Professor in History (retired), Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
97. Abhijit Roy, Professor, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University
98. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta , Journalist, Author, Publisher, Documentary Film-maker and Teacher
99. Mahesh Rangarajan, Professor, Ashoka University
100. Srinath Raghavan, Professor, Ashoka University
101. Shabnam Minwalla, Writer
102. Annie Zaidi, Writer/teacher
103. Satish Deshpande, Professor, Delhi University
104. Purushottam Agrawal, Former Professor, JNU
105. Shilpa Phadke, TISS, Mumbai
106. Ranabir Chakravarti, Retired Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
107. Ashish Awasthi, Vice president PUCL Lucknow
108. Anita Dube, Artist
109. Priyanka Basu, Curator, The British Library
110. Hugo Gorringe, University of Edinburgh
111. Pratap Raychaudhuri, Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
112. Poulomi Saha, Professor, UC Berkeley
113. Brian Larkin, Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University
114. Batul Mukhtiar, Filmmaker
115. Pritam Singh, Visiting Scholar Wolfson College University of Oxford and Professor Emeritus Oxford Brookes Business School
116. MP Ahirwar, Professor of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, BHU
117. Amrita Chhachhi, Associate Professor International Institute of Social Studies
118. M Madhav Prasad, EFL University
119. Madhavan K. Palat, Professor, Former Dean of the School of Social Sciences, JNU
120. Vivek Dhareshwar, Scholar-in-Residence, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology
121. K Srilata, Poet and Professor, IIT Madras
122. Veena Naregal, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi
123. Carin Runciman, Associate Professor, University of Johannesburg
124. Kama Maclean, Professor, University of NSW
125. William Gould, Professor of Indian History, University of Leeds
126. Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee, Poet and writer.
127. Pushpamala N, Artist, Bangalore
128. Jayati Sarkar, Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India
129. Constance Penley, Professor, University of California-Santa Barbara
130. Amman Madan, Professor, Azim Premji University
131. MMP SINGH , Editor , Naya Path, General Secretary, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh & former DUTA president
132. Karuna Mantena, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
133. Shail Mayaram, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
134. Tom Tomlinson, Emeritus Professor, SOAS, London
135. Lalit Vachani, Filmmaker, University of Göttingen
136. Surabhi Ranganathan, Senior Lecturer, University of Cambridge
137. David Gordon White , Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
138. Rahul Mukherji, Professor, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg
139. Uttara Ramaswamy, The Tribune, Chandigarh
140. Thierry Di Costanzo, University of Strasbourg, France
141. Shannon Wells-Lassagne, Professor, Université de Bourgogne-Franche Comté
142. Sarah Bracke, Professor of Sociology, University of Amsterdam
143. Boddu Bhaskar, Senior Journalist , Hyderabad
144. Jane Buckingham, Associate Professor of History, University of Canterbury, NZ
145. David Petts, Associate Professor, Durham University , UK
146. Christian Gutleben, Professor, Université Côte d'Azur, France
147. Smarika Lulz, Humboldt University, Berlin
148. Monique De Mattia-Viviès, Professor, Air Marseille University
149. Françoise Dupeyron-Lafay, Professor, Université Paris est Créteil
150. Bordet Geneviève, Senior Lecturer Université de Paris
151. Benjamin Nolan, UMass, Amherst
152. Chris Moffat, Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London
153. Ian Cook, Professor, Exeter University
154. Marysia Zalewski, Professor, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
155. Henriette Gunkel, Professor, Ruhr-University Bochum
156. Irfan Ahmad, Prof. Max Planck Institute for Religious & Ethnic Diversity, Gottingen, Germany
157. Dr Helen Pritchard, Lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London
158. Dr. Ellen Berry, Editor, Rhizomes:Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge
159. Lars Peter Laamann, Senior Lecturer, SOAS (University of London)
160. Brian Hatcher, Tufts University
161. Rochona Majumdar, Associate Professor, University of Chicago
162. Susan S. Bean, Emerita Senior Curator of Southern Asian Art, Peabody Essex Museum
163. Moulinath Banerjee, Professor of Statistics, University of Michigan
164. Maria Fernandez , Political Scientist, UCM (Madrid) & University of London (Refugee Protection & Forced Migration Studies)
165. Joan Martinez-Alier, Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Catalonia / Spain)
166. Richard Fung Professor Emeritus, OCAD University, Toronto
167. Isabel Huacuja Aonso, Assistant Professor, South Asian History Cal State San Bernardino
168. Patricia Simonson, Associate Professor, Universidad Nacional de Colombi
169. John Greyson, Professor, York University
170. Sergio Villamayor, Ramon y Cajal Fellow, Autonomous University of Barcelona
171. Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Professor, University of Sheffield
172. Clara Han, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University
173. Alexandra Poulain, Professor of Postcolonial Studies, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris (France)
174. Daniel Morgan, Associate Professor, University of Chicago
175. José-Manuel Barreto, Lecturer, University of the Andes, Bogotá
176. Miles Larmer, Professor of African History, University of Oxford
177. Tyler Williams, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
178. Shrenik Rao, Editor, The Madras Courier
179. Shivani Tibrewala, Writer | Director, No License Yet
180. Pascale Amiot, Professor, University of Perpignan, France
181. William Mazzarella, Professor, University of Chicago
