The arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar following the crackdown conducted at the University campus seems to have gained international importance.
Top academicians from all over the world came together with members of Indian academia to condemn the Centre’s action against the students and professors of JNU.
Two statements of solidarity have been in circulation, first from the alumni of JNU that saw support from 455 people and the second from the Western academia whose signatories include Noam Chomsky, Orhan Pamuk, Sheldon Pollock, Mira Nair, Judith Butler, Partha Chatterjee and Homi Bhabha to name a few.
In their statement, the eminent professors of international universities criticised the “unlawful” arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar without any concrete evidence.
...We can only conclude that this arrest is further evidence of the present government’s deeply authoritarian nature, intolerant of any dissent, 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.Excerpt from the statement of solidarity
The signatories also urged the concerned citizens of India to “protest in wide mobilisation” against the authoritarian nature of the government.
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