Retired bureaucrats, activists, professors, journalists and other prominent Indian citizens condemned in “unequivocal terms” the call for genocide of Muslims made between December 17 and 19 at what is now popularly known as the Haridwar hate conclave.
In an open letter, signed by 273 respectable Indians, the signatories said that the speeches and calls for violence made by Hindutva-oriented organisations is a violation of the law and everything the Indian constitution stands against. They further criticised police and public authorities, accusing them of whitewashing the events.
“The idea of India as a constitutional democracy with fundamental rights and secularism as part of the basic structure of the Constitution will no longer have any meaning and India as we know it may cease to exist. The parallels with what happened in Nazi Germany are chilling: to remain silent or inactive in the face of such abominable speeches is to be complicit in crimes against humanity,” they wrote.
Earlier, five former chiefs of the armed forces and a number of other prominent citizens including bureaucrats had written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the recent incidents of hate speeches and urged them to take appropriate measures.
In the current letter, the following, of which human rights activist Harsh Mander, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, communal harmony activist Ram Punyani, and several others are the signatories.
List of signatories:
1 A. Selvaraj, IRS (Retd.)
2 A.K. Samanta, IPS (Retd.)
3 A.S. Dulat, IPS (Retd.)
4 Abdul Khan, Secretary, LIC Workers’ Association, Karnataka
5 Abeed Khan, National Secretary, Rashtra Seva Dal
6 Abha Sur, Historian of Science
7 Abhay Kanta, Writer-Journalist, Bombay
8 Abhijit Sengupta, IAS (Retd.)
9 Abhijit Vaidya, Founder, Arogya Sena, Pune
10 Achin Vanaik, Professor (Retd), New Delhi
11 Aditi Mehta, IAS (Retd.)
12 Aditya Bhushan, Director of a BPO
13 Aditya Mukherjee, Professor (Retd.), JNU, New Delhi
14 Aditya Vikram
15 Admiral (Retd.) L Ramdas, Former Chief of Naval Staff
16 Aftab Seth, IFS (Retd.)
17 Air Marshal (Retd.) Vir Narain
18 Ajai Vikram Singh, IAS (Retd.)
19 Ajay Singh Mehta
20 Akhil Chaudhary, Advocate, Rajasthan High Court
21 Amitabh Mathur, IPS (Retd.)
22 Amitabha Pande , IAS (Retd.)
23 Ammu Joseph, Writer
24 Amrita Dasgupta, Citizen
25 Anand Arni, RAS (Retd.)
26 Anil Nauriya, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
27 Anil Sadgopal, All India Forum for Right to Education
28 Anindyo Roy, Professor Emeritus
29 Anjali Ambedkar, Trustee, Rashtra Seva Dal, Maharashtra
30 Anna Dani, IAS (Retd.)
31 Annie Raja, National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW)
32 Ansar Ahmed, IFoS (Retd)
33 Anup Thakur, IAS (Retd.)
34 Apar Gupta, Advocate
35 Ardhendu Sen, IAS (Retd.)
36 Arif Ghauri, IRS (Retd.)
37 Arjun Kokate, President, Rashtra Seva Dal, Maharashtra
38 Aruna Roy, IAS (Resigned)
39 Arundhati Dhuru, National Alliance of People’s Movements
40 Asha Dey
41 Asha Dutia, Couple and Family Therapist
42 Ashim Jain
43 Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagaran Shakti Sangathan
44 Ashok Kumar Sharma, IFoS (Retd.)
45 Ashok Kumar Sharma, IFS (Retd.)
46 Ashraf Ali, Educationist, Kunnur, Kerala
47 Atul Deshmukh, National Secretary, Rashtra Seva Dal, Nagpur
48 Aurobindo Behera, IAS (Retd.)
49 Avdhesh Kumar Singh, IFoS (Retd)
50 Avinash Mohananey, IPS (Retd.)
51 Ayesha Kidwai, JNU
52 B.B. Mahajan, IAS (Retd.)
53 Baba Adhav, Hamal Panchyat, Pune
54 Badri Raina, Author, and columnist
55 Bela Bhatia
56 Bhagvanji Bhai Raiyani, Forum for Fast Justice
57 Bhanwar Meghwanshi
58 Bharat Dogra
59 Bharat Sasne, IAS (Retd.), President Marathi Sahitya Sammelan
60 Brijesh Kumar , IAS (Retd.)
61 Brinda Dubey, Citizen
62 C R Neelakandan
63 Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan, IAS (Retd.)
64 Claude Alvares, Director, the Goa Foundation, Goa
65 D L Tripathi, PUCL Ajmer
66 D.M.Sukthankar, IAS (Retd.)
67 Dakshin Chhara, Film maker-dramatist, Gujarat
68 Datta Naik, President, Dakshinayan, Goa
69 Deb Mukharji, IFS (Retd.)
70 Debmalya Nandy, Concerned Citizen
71 Deep Joshi
72 Deepak Sanan, IAS (Retd.)
73 Dileep Sarawgi, Citizen
74 Dileep Simeon, Citizen
75 Dr Urmila Pingle, Citizen
76 Dr V Rukmini Rao, Citizen
77 Dr. Ashok Sahni, Professor Emeritus, Punjab University
78 Dr. Dhiraj Mohan Banerjee, Former Professor, Delhi University
79 Dr. Vandana Prasad, Community Pediatrician, and Public Health Professional
80 DS Ranga Rao, Assistant Director (Retd.), MHA
81 EAS Sarma, IAS (Retd)
82 F.T.R. Colaso, IPS (Retd.)
83 Faisal Khan, President, Khudai Khidmatgar, Uttar Pradesh
84 Flavia Agnes, Founder Trustee, Majlis, Legal Centre Mumbai
85 G. Balachandhran, IAS (Retd.)
86 G.K. Pillai, IAS (Retd.)
87 G.N Devy, National President, Rashtra Seva Dal
88 Gabriele Dietrich, NAPM
89 Gautam Mukhopadhaya, IFS (Retd.)
90 Gautam Sonti, Independent documentary film-maker
91 Githa Hariharan, Writer
92 Gladwin Momin, Rashtrea Seva Dal, Meghalaya
93 Gopalan Balagopal, IAS (Retd.)
94 Gurjit Singh Cheema, IAS (Retd.)
95 H.S. Gujral, IFoS (Retd.)
96 Harlal Bairwa
97 Harsh Mander, IAS (Retd.)
98 Hindal Tyabji, IAS (Retd.)
99 Hukam Chand, IFoS (Retd)
100 Ibrahim Afghan, Media person, Aurangabad
101 Inamul Hasan, NAPM
102 Indu Prakash Singh, City Makers Mission International
103 Ish Kumar, IPS (Retd.)
104 Jagdeep S Chhokar, Professor (Retd)
105 Janaki Nair, Professor (Retd.) JNU, New Delhi
106 Jayant Joshi, Musician-Painter, Pune
107 Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.
108 Jharna acharya, President, Rashtra Seva Dal, West Bengal
109 John Dayal, Writer and activist
110 Jugal Mohapatra, IAS (Retd.)
111 Julio Ribeiro, IPS (Retd.), Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & Former
Ambassador to Romania
112 Justice (Retd.) Anjana Prakash, Former Judge Patna High Court
113 Justice (Retd.) AP Shah, Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court
114 K. Sujatha Rao, IAS (Retd.)
115 K.M. Chandrasekhar, IAS (Retd.)
116 K.P. Fabian, IFS (Retd.)
117 K.V. Bhagirath, IFS (Retd.)
118 Kalyani Chaudhuri , IAS (Retd.)
119 Kalyani Menon Sen, Independent researcher
120 Kamal Jaswal, IAS (Retd.)
121 Kavitha Kuruganti, Farmer’s rights activist
122 Koninika Rar, National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW)
123 KPM Perrumahl, IFoS (Retd)
124 L.L. Mehrotra, IFS (Retd.)
125 Lakshmi Krishnamurty, Alarippu
126 Lakshmikant Deshmukh, Former President, Marathi Sahitya Sammelan
127
Lalit Mathur, Former Director General National Institute of Rural Development,
GoI.
128 M.G. Devasahayam, IAS (Retd.)
129 Madan Meena, Artist, Rajasthan
130 Madhu Sarin, Citizen
131 Mahendra Pal Singh, Former Pro Vice-Chancellor, Lucknow University.
132 Maxwell Pereira, IPS (Retd.)
133 Maya Krishna Rao, Theatre Artist
134 Meena Gupta, IAS (Retd.)
135 Meera Dewan, Film-maker
136 Minakshi Bahadur, Citizen
137 Minakshi Ibrahim, Citizen
138 Mohammed Ahsan, IFoS (Retd)
139 Mohini Mullick, Professor (Retd.), IIT
140 Mridula Mukherjee, Professor (Retd.), JNU, New Delhi
141 N.C. Saxena, IAS (Retd.)
142 N.K. Raghupathy, IAS (Retd.)
143 Nachiket Udupa, MKSS
144 Najeeb Jung, IAS (Retd.)
145 Nandita Das, Film-maker and actor
146 Nandan Dasgupta, Citizen
147 Nandita Narain, Democratic Teachers’ Front.
148 Narendra Sisodia, IAS (Retd.)
149 Nareshwar Dayal, IFS (Retd.)
150 Navrekha Sharma, IFS (Retd.)
151 Neena Vyas, Citizen
152 Neera Burra, Citizen
153 Neera Chandhoke, Distinguished Fellow Centre For Equity Studies
154 Nilova Roychowdhury, Journalist
155 Nisha Grover, Educationist, Baroda
156 Nitin Desai
157 Nitin Vaidya, Film-maker, Bombay
158 Norma Alvares (Padmasri), Advocate, Bombay High Court at Goa
159 OP Meena, IAS (Retd.)
160 P. Joy Oommen, IAS (Retd.)
161 P.A. Nazareth, IFS (Retd.)
162 P.M.S. Malik, IFS (Retd.)
163 P.R. Dasgupta, IAS (Retd.)
164 P.S.S. Thomas, IAS (Retd.)
165 Pamel Philipose, Journalist, New Delhi
166 Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Journalist
167 Parveen Talha, IRS (Retd.)
168 Parvez Hayat, IPS (Retd.)
169 Pervin Jahangir
170 PK Ghosh, IAS (Retd.)
171 Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, JNU, New Delhi
172 Pradeep K. Deb, IAS (Retd.)
173 Pradnya Daya Pawar, Poet-Academic, Bombay
174 Pramod Munghate, Academic, Nagpur
175 Prashant Kothadia, Social activist, Pune
176 Preeti Sampat, Academic
177 Prof R. Sudarshan, JSGP
178 Prof Subhashis Banerjee, IIT
179 Prof. G Haragopal, Telangana Civil Liberties Committee
180 Pushpa Sundar, Citizen
181 R. Chandramohan, IAS (Retd.)
182 R. Poornalingam, IAS (Retd.)
183 R.M. Premkumar, IAS (Retd.)
184 Rachel Chatterjee, IAS (Retd.)
185 Ragini Ahuja, Advocate
186 Rahat Unnisa, Educationist, Dharwad, Karnataka
187 Raja Kandalkar, Secretary, Rashtra Seva Dal, Maharashtra
188 Rajagopal P V
189 Rajan Khan, President, Akshar Manav, Writer, Pune
190 Rajdeep Puri, IRS (Resigned)
191 Rajendran Narayanan, Azim Premji University
192 Rajesh Prasad, IFS (Retd.)
193 Rajiv Khandelwal, Co-founder, Aajeevika Bureau
194 Ram Puniyani, Communal Harmony Activist, Bombay
195 Ram Puniyani, National Solidarity Forum
196 Ramani Atkuri, Public Health Specialist
197 Ramani Venkatesan, IAS (Retd.)
198 Ramesh Bajaj, Citizen
199 Ranesh Ray
200 Rani Day, Animation filmmaker
201 Ranjana Ray
202 Rashmi Chaturvedi, Kanoria College, Jaipur
203 Ravi Budhiraja, IAS (Retd.)
204 Ravi Srivastava, Professor, JNU, Delhi (Retd.)
205 Ravi Vira Gupta, IAS (Retd.)
206 Rekha Bezboruah
207 Rekha Choudhari, Tribal activist, Gujarat
208 Revathi Narayanan, Independent Consultant Gender and Development
209 Richa Audichya, Jan Chetna Sansthan
210 Right to Food Campaign
211 Rima Choudhary, Rashtra Seva Dal, Assam
212 Rudi Warjri, IFS (Retd.)
213 S G Vasudev, Artist
214 S R Hiremath, President, Citizens For Democracy
215 S. Satyabhama, IAS (Retd.)
216 S.K. Guha, IAS (Retd.),
217 S.P. Ambrose, IAS (Retd.)
218 Saheli Women’s Resource Centre, New Delhi
219 Salahuddin Ahmad, IAS (Retd.)
220 Sambhaji Bhagat, Manuski-chi Shaalaa, Bombay
221 Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party
222 Sandesh Bhandare, President, Dakshinayan, Maharashtra
223 Satwant Reddy , IAS (Retd.)
224 Satya Narayan Mohanty, IAS (Retd.)
225 Sevanti Ninan, Journalist
226 Shailesh Gandhi, Former Central Information Commissioner
227 Shankar Halgatti, Secretary, Vidya Vardhak Sangh, Karnataka
228 Sharad Behar, IAS (Retd.)
229 Sharda Prasad, IAS (Retd.)
230 Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, IFS (Retd.)
231 Shiv Visvanathan
232 Shivshankar Menon, IFS (Retd.)
233 Shubha Jindel, PUCL Rajasthan
234 Shyam Saran, IFS (Retd.)
235 Siddharth Pandey, Sports Broadcaster
236 Siraj Hussain, IAS (Retd.)
237 Snehalata Gupta, Citizen
238 Sonalini Mirchandani, IFS (Resigned)
239 Subhas Lomte, NCCRW( National Campaign Committee for Rural Workers)
240 Subhash R. Shah, Citizen
241 Subhash Ware, Mass leader-Constitutional Conduct Activist, Pune
242 Subodh Lal, IPoS (Resigned)
243 Sudeshan Sengupta, Independent Consultant, and Researcher
244 Sudhir Kumar, IAS (Retd.)
245 Sujatha Singh, IFS (Retd.)
246 Sukhdeo Thorat, Professor Emeritus, JNU, New Delhi
247 Sukumar Muralidharan, Journalist
248 Sumir Hinduja
249 Sundar Burra , IAS (Retd.)
250 Surekha Devi, Srujani Women’s Association, Karnataka
251 Suresh K. Goel, IFS (Retd.),
252 Sushil Dubey , IFS (Retd.)
253 Swapna Guha, Citizen
254 T M Krishna, Musician and Author
255 T Vijayendra, Ecologise Hyderabad
256 T.K. Banerji, IAS (Retd.)
257 Tara Ajai Singh, IAS (Retd.)
258 Tripurari Sharma
259 Utsa Patnaik, Professor Emerita, JNU, New Delhi
260 Uttam Parmar, Educationist, Gujarat
261 Uttara Dasgupta, ex-SBI
262 V.P. Raja, IAS (Retd.)
263 Vandana Mahajan, Independent feminist, and development practitioner
264 Vappala Balachandran, IPS (Retd.)
265 Vibha Puri Das, IAS (Retd.)
266 Vikram Vyas, Independent Scientist
267 Vinay Jain, Citizen
268 Vinod C. Khanna , IFS (Retd.)
269 Vinod Vyasulu, Economist, Senior Citizen, Bangalore
270 Vinoo Bhagat, Lawyer
271 Vipul Mudgal, Common Cause
272 Virginius Xaxa, Former Professor, Delhi University
273 Wajahat Habibullah , IAS (Retd.)
