Several faculty, students and non-teaching staff of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against his “disheartening” silence on rising intolerance and reminded him that it emboldens hate mongers and threatens the unity and integrity of the country.

The letter endorsed by 183 signatories, five of them from IIM Ahmedabad, has pointed out that hate speeches and calls for violence are unacceptable.

“Your silence on the rising intolerance in our country, Honourable Prime Minister, is disheartening to all of us who value the multicultural fabric of our country. Your silence, Honourable Prime Minister, emboldens the hate-filled voices and threatens the unity and integrity of our country,” the letter, dated January 6, stated.

“We request you, Honourable Prime Minister, to stand firm against forces that seek to divide us. We ask your leadership to turn our minds and hearts, as a nation, away from inciting hatred against our people.”

“We, the undersigned, request you and our elected members to preserve the culture of tolerance and diversity that defines our great nation. Hate speeches and calls for violence against communities based on religion/ caste identities is unacceptable,” the letter said.

“Our Constitution gives us the right to practise our religion with dignity — without fear, without shame.
“There is a sense of fear in our country now — places of worship, including churches in recent days, are being vandalised, and there have been calls to take arms against our Muslim brothers and sisters. All of this is carried out with impunity and without any fear of due process,” the letter, written against the backdrop of the passage of an anti-conversion bill in BJP-ruled Karnataka and the persecution of minorities across the country, stated.

“We expect our leaders to safeguard our constitutional rights. We expect our leaders to ensure safety and security for every Indian citizen. We expect our leaders to motivate us to be human and look beyond differences based on caste, religion, language and other identities.

“We believe that a society can focus on creativity, innovation and growth, or a society can create divisions within itself. We want to build an India that stands as an exemplar of inclusiveness and diversity in the world. We, the undersigned faculty, staff and students of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), hope and pray that you will lead the country in making the right choices,” the signatories added.
Karnataka has witnessed a series of attacks on churches and prayer halls of Christian denominations since the BJP government declared its intent to bring a law against “fraudulent” conversions.

The government passed the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, in the Assembly just two days before Christmas. Although it is still not a law since the bill has to be passed in the Legislative Council, it has already injected a sense of fear in the minority communities, especially Christians who form a mere 1.87 per cent of the state’s population of 6.5 crore.

There has also been an increase in hostility towards Muslim students coming to college in hijab (head cover). At least two such incidents have come to light at colleges in Udupi and Chikmagalur where students affiliated to Sangh parivar organisations such as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad turned up in saffron scarves as a counter.

Prateek Raj, a faculty member of IIM Bangalore who is one of the signatories to the letter, said hate speeches were against the constitutional principles of equality, freedom and justice. Irrespective of political ideologies, the parties in power and those in the Opposition need to speak up against hate speeches targeting any community.

“Except for a few voices like Nitin Gadkari, we have not heard any statement from the Prime Minister or members of the Union cabinet. We as a group of academics and students felt the need to urge the central government to speak against hate speeches. So we have issued a open letter,” Raj said.
Poster campaign

A hundred progressive organisations under the umbrella of the National Solidarity Forum have launched a poster
campaign against the anti-conversion laws in BJP-ruled states.

“The anti-conversion law affects Christians, Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and women. In this context, the national solidarity concerns have initiated this campaign, not just against the anti-conversion bill in Karnataka, but also against all anti-conversion laws in India,” the participants of the poster campaign said in a statement on
Thursday.

“The organisations argue that these laws are not just a violation of freedom of religion, but also a violation of various clauses of the Indian Constitution,” it added.

Additional reporting by Basant Kumar Mohanty