---------- Forwarded message --------- From: shabnam hashmi <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 2:01 PM Subject: To: ram puniyani <[email protected]>, Zaheeruddin Ali Khan < [email protected]>
*PRESS RELEASE* We are releasing a statement in support of Harsh Mander today, June 15, 2020 endorsed by over 160 academicians, activists, artists and intellectuals from across India. From 3pm 15 intellectuals, activists will do facebook lives from their respective facebook profiles/pages in solidarity with Harsh Mander. The list is given at the end of the statement. *STATEMENT* *In Solidarity With Harsh Mander* We, the undersigned, condemn the manner in which the Delhi Police has mentioned the name of Harsh Mander and other activists, to concoct a ‘chronology’ and create a false narrative about the Delhi riots, in the chargesheet filed by them on FIR No.- 65/2020 of 26/02/2020. Harsh Mander is a well known Human Rights Defender, a writer and a social activist. Harsh Mander was a civil servant who resigned from his job in the wake of Gujarat violence in 2002 and came forward to work tirelessly to build bridges of love in our society. He went on to start initiatives for the under-privileged, and religious minorities among others. He founded Aman Biradari and Karavan-E-Mohabbat. Both initiatives have contributed immensely to the betterment of Indian society. His current efforts to help the migrant workers, who had to tragically flee our cities in the wake of Corona lockdown, are commendable. In the wake of the Delhi violence ( Feb. 2020), Harsh Mander had filed a petition before the Honorable Supreme Court, related to registering of FIRs against political leaders whose inflammatory speeches triggered the violence resulting in over 50 deaths. Instead of allowing the court to consider the petition, the Solicitor General of India derailed it, and gave a twist to the episode by arguing that Mr. Mander had in fact been contemptuous of the Honorable Supreme Court, and incited violence in a speech he gave at the Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 16th 2020. That speech, given publically, and video recorded, in fact spoke of love and constitutional rights. The chargesheet now filed by the police continues this false narrative. Under the head - Brief Facts of the Case - Chronology Of Events Leading To Riots In North-East, Delhi (Point 17. Para 4) it says : ”Mr. Harsh Mander, who visited the site on 16/12/19 and instigated the protestors to not have faith in the Supreme Court and to fight their battle on road to get justice. He, however, used a façade of peace in a part of his speech”. There cannot be anything more ridiculous than saying Harsh Mander used a “façade of peace.” He has devoted his entire life to the cause of peace and harmony in society. The core part of his speech called for shunning violence and adopting Gandhian means of non violence in the agitation. This is what he had said: “What will be the future of this country - you all are the youth - what sort of country do you want to leave for your kids - where will this decision happen? One, it will happen on the streets, we have come out on the streets, but even beyond the streets, there is another place where this decision will take place. Which is the place in which this fight will eventually be decided? That is in our hearts, in my heart, in your heart, we have to give a response - if they want to fill our hearts with hate, if we respond with hate, hatred will become deeper”. “If someone is attempting to bring darkness to the country, and we also do the same in order to fight, then the darkness will only become more severe. If there is darkness, then the only way that can be fought is by lighting a lamp. And if there is a huge storm, we will light a lamp against the darkness. The only answer we have to their hate is love. They will resort to violence, they will instigate us to indulge in violence but *we will never carry out any violence*. You must understand that it is their plan to instigate you towards violence so that when we commit 2% violence, they respond with 100%. We have learnt from Gandhi ji how to respond to violence and injustice. *We will fight with non-violence*. Anyone who instigates you toward violence or hatred, they are not your friends.” Surely this speech can go down in history as an elaboration of Gandhian principles in contemporary times. To use this speech to present Harsh Mander as someone instigating violence is utterly deplorable. It is a deliberate and motivated attempt to implicate an outstanding peace loving , Gandhi follower, an activist par excellence ,who is walking the path of non violence. This is an attempt to target him, perhaps pull him into the police dragnet of false cases, and silence powerful and effective citizen’s voices against hate, divisiveness and for unity and compassion. We strongly condemn the motivated, compromised investigation and vilification of a person with commitment to a just society, and demand that this is stopped forthwith. Endorsed by: Abha Bhaiya, OBR India coordinator Abhijit Sen , Former Member of Planning Commission of India Abuzar Choudhary, Social Activist Achin Vanaik, Retd. Professor of International Relation, DU Aditya Mukherjee, historian, JNU Admiral L Ramdas Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak Ajaya Kumar Singh, Bhubaneswar Anand Chakravarti, Academician, Delhi Anand Grover, Advocate Anand majgavkar, social activist, Gujarat Anjali Hegde, IT professional, Delhi Annie Raja, National Secretary, NFIW Anu Chenoy, Professor JNU Aparna Sen, filmmaker, actress, Kolkata Apoorvanand , academician, writer, Delhi Aruna Roy, MKSS, Rajasthan Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM Asha Mishra, social activist Ashok Choudhary, AIUFWP Ashok Kumar Pandey, poet, writer, Delhi Asok Barman, former President of AIFUCTO. Atul Sood, Economist, Professor JNU, Delhi B. Rajendra Prasad, Hyderabad Badri Raina, author, Delhi Balvir Arora, former Rector of JNU and Prof of Political Science Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty Internayional’s South Aisa, Director Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau Member, CPM Brinelle D'souza, Academic and Activist, Mumbai Chaman Lal Retd. Professor, JNU and author Chayanika Shah, Queer Feminist, Mumbai Deepak Kabir , social-cultural activist ,Lucknow Dev Desai, social activist, Gujarat Dhirendra Panda, Convener, Civil Society Forum on Human Rights, Bhubaneswar Dipa Sinha, social activist, Delhi, Dr Harshvardhan Hedge, orthopedic surgeon, Delhi Dr Syeda Hameed, former member, Planning Commission, writer, Delhi Dr. R. Mahalakshmi, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU Dr. V.Krishna Ananth, Historian and Journalist Dr.Hafiz Ahmed, Guwahati , Assam Faisal Khan, Khudai Khidmatgar Farah Naqvi, writer & activist, Delhi. Fr Cedric Prakash, Human Rights Activist, Gujarat Francis Parmar, Anand, Gujarat G. N. Devy, People's Linguistic Survey of India Gauhar Raza, retired scientist, filmmaker, poet, Delhi Geeta Kapur, art historian and critic, Delhi Geeta Seshu, Co-editor, Free Speech Collective George Mathew, social scientist, Delhi Githa Hariharan, writer, New Delhi Gloria Burrett, Psychotherapist Gulammohammed Sheikh, artist, Vadodara Hasina khan , activist and researcher, Mumbai Himanshu, social activist, Delhi Inamul Hasan , Khudai Khidmtgar Indira jaising, Lawyers Collective, Delhi Indu Prakash Singh, President, Forum against Corruption & Threats (FACT) Ira Bhaskar, professor, JNU Irfan Engineer, social activist, CSSS, Mumbai Jagmati Sangwan, Bheem Awardy, sportswoman, Social Activist, Rohtak Janaki Nair, Retd Professor, JNU Javed Anis, Bhopal, Social activist & freelance journalist Jayati Ghosh, economist, Prof JNU Jean Dreze, economist, Jignesh Mevani, Gujarat Joe Athialy, social activist, Delhi John Dayal, journalist, Delhi K. M. Shrimali, former Professor of History, University of Delhi K. Satchidanandan, poet, Kerala Kalpana Kannabiran, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad Kamal Chenoy, academician, professor JNU Kamla Bhasin, feminist activist, Delhi Kannan Gopinathan, former civil servant, social activist Kavita Srivastava, PUCL, Jaipur Kedar Misra, writer, journalist, Bhubaneswar Kiran Shaheen, social activist, Delhi KP Sasi , filmmaker, Kerala Kripal Singh Mandloi , Khudai Khidmtgar Kumkum Roy, historian, Delhi Lalita Ramdas Lara Jesani, Advocate, Mumbai Lata Singh, JNU Laxmi Murthy, Co-Editor, Free Speech Collective Leena Dabiru, social activist, Delhi LS Hardenia, writer, journalist, Bhopal Madan Gopal Singh, academician, musician, Delhi Madhuresh Kumar, NAPM Mahesh Pandya, Gujarat Social Watch Mallika Sarabhai, dancer, artist, Ahmedabad Manisha Sethi, Associate Professor, NALSAR Manjula Pradeep, Human Rights defender, Gujarat Manoranjan Mohanty, Retired Professor of Political Science, University of Delhi Mansi Shah, Gujarat Mansi Sharma, social activist, Delhi Martin Macwan, social activist, Gujarat Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan Meha Khanduri, Human Rights Activist Mohd Azam, businessman, Hyderabad Mridula Mukherjee, historian, Delhi Nandini Sundar, professor DU Nandita Das, actor, filmmaker, Mumbai Nandita Narain, professor DU Naseeruddin Shah, actor, Mumbai Navjot, artist, Mumbai Nayantara Sahgal, writer, Dehradun Neeladri Bhattacharya, historian Neera Burra, Sociologist Neera Chandhoke, former professor of political science, Delhi University. Nikhil Dey, MKSS, Rajasthan Nilima Sheikh, artist, Vadodara Nivedita Menon, feminist writer and a professor of political thought at JNU Pamela Philipose, journalist, Delhi Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, journalist Prabir Purkayastha, editor of Newsclick.in. Pradip Krishen - Writer, New Delhi Prafulla Samantara, environmental activist, Bhubaneswar Pramod Yadava, former President of JNUTA Pravinsinh Jadeja, JDU, Gujarat Prof Irfan Habib, historiam, Aligarh Prof. Ankur Sarin, IIM Ahmedabad Prof. Arun Kumar, economist, retired professor, JNU Prof. Hemant Shah, economist, Gujarat Prof. Monirul Hussain, Assam Prof. Navdeep Mathur, IIM, Ahmedabad Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, JNU Prof. Raghavan Rangarajan , Ahmedabad Prof. Rohit Shukla, academician and economist, Gujarat Prof. Shah Alam Khan, Professor, AIIMS, New Delhi Prof. Shireen Moosvi, Aligarh Prof. Utsa Patnaik, JNU Prof. Zoya Hasan, former Dean of the School of Social Sciences (SSS), JNU Rajmohan Gandhi, academician, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi Rakhi Sehgal, New Delhi Ram Puniyani, writer, social activist, Mumbai Ramachandra Guha, historian Ratna Pathak Shah, Actress, Mumbai Rohit Prajapati, social activist, Vadodara Romila Thapar, Historian, Professor Emeritus, JNU, New Delhi. Ruchira Gupta, journalist, activist Sadanand Menon – arts editor, teacher of cultural journalism, Chennai Sadhna Arya, DU, Delhi Sahba Farooqui, social activist, Delhi Saheli, women organisation Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party (India) Seema Kurup, Bhopal Shabana Azmi, Actress, Mumbai Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, Delhi Shankar Singh, MKSS, Rajasthan Shanta Gokhale, writer, theatre critic Shantha Sinha, Former Chairperson NCPCR Sohail Hashmi, Writer Film maker, Delhi Sucheta Mahajan, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU Sukumar Muralidharan, journalist, Gurgaon Sundar Burra (retired civil servant) Surajit Mazumdar, professor, JNU Sushant Singh, actor, Mumbai Uma Chakravarti, feminist historian , writer, Delhi Upasana Behar, social activist, Bhopal Urmimala Sarkar, Prof JNU Uttam Parmar, Kim, Gujarat Vibhuti Patel, former Head of Department of Economics at SNDT Women's Univ Vidya Bhushan Rawat, social activist, Delhi Vikas Narain Rai, Retd. IPS Officer Vivan Sundaram, contemporary artist, Delhi Wilfred Dcosta, Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), New Delhi Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj India Yogesh Diwan, social activist, Bhopal The following will do facebook lives at 3pm in Solidarity with Harsh Mander at 3pm Aditya Mukherjee- https://www.facebook.com/aditya.mukherjee.1029 Deepak Kabir (https://www.facebook.com/deepak.kabir) Fr Cedric Prakash-https://www.facebook.com/cedric.prakash Gauhar Raza -https://www.facebook.com/GauharRaza2020/ Hemant Shah-https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008214734262 Javed Anis: https://www.facebook.com/javed.anis Jignesh Mevani-https://www.facebook.com/jigneshmevaniofficial/ John Dayal- https://www.facebook.com/whattgeh KP Sasi - https://www.facebook.com/kpsasi36 Mallika Sarabhai-https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=664236366 Mridula Mukherjee-https://www.facebook.com/aditya.mukherjee.1029 Prafulla Samantara - https://www.facebook.com/prafulla.samantara Ram Puniyani-https://www.facebook.com/rampuniyani1945/ Shabnam Hashmi- https://www.facebook.com/shabnamhashmi Syeda Hameed (https://www.facebook.com/anhadspaces) Uttam Parmar- https://www.facebook.com/uttambhai.parmar.14 Released By ANHAD [email protected] Mob: 9811807558 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. 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