In support of Prof Ravi Kant
“India is not a country of Hindus only. It is country of Muslims, the Christians and the Parsees too. The country can gain strength and develop itself only when the people of different communities in India live in mutual goodwill and harmony. It is my earnest hope and prayer that this Centre of life and light which is coming into existence will produce students who would not be intellectually equal to the best of their fellow students in other parts of the world, but will also live a noble life, love their country and be loyal to the supreme ruler.”
-Madan Mohan Malviya
Founder, Banares Hindu University
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it.”
-Voltaire
Professor Ravi Kant of Lucknow University was mobbed on 10 May, 2022 in the Proctor’s Office by students of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh affiliated student organization who raised slogans, ‘The traitors of the country should be shot,’ apparently agitated by the Professor’s comments on Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi where he had quoted from a book by Pattabhi Sitaramayya, ‘Feathers and Stones,’ which is not banned. After the Professor had expressed regret to people whose feelings were hurt by his comment and students were pacified by the officials of the University, a student Aman Dubey filed a complaint against Prof. Ravi Kant and a First Information Report was lodged under sections 153-A, 504 and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code and section 166 of Information Technology (Amendment) Act. However, a subsequent complaint by Prof. Ravi Kant against students who mobbed him was not converted into a FIR. Encouraged by this partisan behavior of the University administration and Uttar Pradesh government, a student Kartik Pandey assaulted Prof. Ravi Kant outside the Proctor’s Office on 18 May. In spite of a case registered against the student under sections 323, 352, 504, 506 of IPC and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, sections 3(1)R and 3(1)S, the student has got bail and has not yet been expelled from the University.
Socialist Party (India) and other concerned individuals stand with the fundamental right of Professor Ravi Kant of freedom of expression, condemn the University administration and UP government for failing to get a FIR registered against students who mobbed the Professor on 10 May, demand that FIR be registered immediately along with appropriate sections of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act and demand expulsion of Kartik Pandey from LU so that dignity of teaching community is upheld.
SP(I) and concerned individuals regret the continuous degeneration of academic atmosphere of free debate on campuses under the Bhartiya Janata Party rule, lumpenisation of youth in the name of Hindutva politics and terrorizing the intellectuals who refuse to toe the ideological line of RSS.
- Sandeep Pandey, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley | General Secretary, Socialist Party (India)
- Arundhati Dhuru NAPM
- Shuchita Socialist Party (India)
- Jayanti Panchal Socialist party ( India)
- Rahul Varman IIT Kanpur
- Dipankar Treelabs Foundation
- Manali Chakrabarti
- Madan lal, Samajwadi Jan Parishad
- Navdeep Mathur IIM Ahmedabad
- Shiva Shankar
- Ghanshyam Shah Retired Professor, JNU, Delhi
- Rajorshi Ray Researxh Scholar
- Bobby Ramakant Socialist party (india)
- Amit Singh IITB Faculty
- Peehu Pardeshi TISS
- K V Subrahmanyam CMI
- Arun Kumar Retd. Professor
- Abhijit Mitra Lokvidya Jan Andolan
- Praveen Srivastava Neev association
- Saumya Chakrabarti Visva-Bharati University Santiniketan
- Jayati Ghosh University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Brijesh Kumar Rai Ex-Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati
- Lenin Raghuvanshi Founder,PVCHR
- Shashank Singh, Advocate , Supreme Court of India
- Nisha biswas
- Guru Concerned Indian
- P T M Hussain NAPM
- Samar Bagchi NAPM, West Bengal
- Ram Puniyani National Solidarity Forum
- Ravela somayya
- Dr. Ajaz Shaikh IIM Ahmedabad
- Aditi Chowdhury, Citizen activist
- Ramesh Ambu Humanity
- Chinu Srinivasan Concerned citizen
- S Chakrabarti Retired Prof
- ARUN KHOTE Justice News
- Dr sunilam Kisan Sanghrarsh Samiti
- Martin Macwan Navsarjan Trust
- Harbans Mukhia Formerly of JNU
- Teesta Setalvad
- Rabin Chakraborty Retired Teacher, Calcutta University
- Koel Das IISER K
- Dr. Suhas Kolhekar NAPM
- K.P. Sasi Film Maker
- Mohiuddin Khan NA
- Debal Deb Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies
- Mohini Mullick IIT Kanpur (Retired)
- Nikita Naidu Climate Action Consultant
- Nandini Sundar Delhi University
- Sagar Dhara
- Rahul Pandey Visiting faculty, IIM Lucknow
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- Jayant Social
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- Pramod Ranjan Assam University
- Akhtar Ehtisham H.R
- Nurul amin Socialist party (India)
- DR LUBNA SARWATH SAMVIDHAN KENDR, HYDERABAD
- Madhusree Mukerjee writer
- A. Raghu kumar Independent scholar
- M G Devasahayam People First
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- Romi Mahajan KKM Group – USA
- M. Rajaullah Quraishi United for Peace
- Anil Sadgopal All India Forum for Right to Education
- Karan Mahajan Writer and Associate Professor, Brown University
- Shruti Ganguly
- Porus Dadabhoy Usa immigrant
- Uma Shankari Farmer, Citizen of India.
- Navendu Priyadarshy
- Dimple Oberoi Vahali Independent activist
- shabnam hashmi anhad
- Sukla Sen Peace Activist
- Srivats Srinivasan friend
- S.Prabu Ramasubramanian Advocate Supreme Court of India
- A. H. Nayyar Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
- K. B. Ahmed None
- Leo Saldanha Environmental Policy Analyst, Bangalore
- Amitabha Basu Retired scientist, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi
- Imtiaz uddin NRI
- Anuradha Talwar Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity
- Shamsul Islam Delhi University (retired faculty)
- Neelima Sharma Nishant Natya Manch
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- Madhu Bhaduri None
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- Sheikh Rahman USA
- sayandeb chowdhury Ambedkar University Delhi
- Amit Bhaduri Resigned Emeritus Professor.JNU
- Siddharth K J Independent Researcher, Bengaluru
- Hasan Abdullah None
- Shahnaz Rafique intuc
- Amulya Nidhi Swasthya Adhikar Manch
- Firoz Khan Student
- Monica Katiyar IIT Kanpur
- Sudha N Independent Researcher/Activist
- Rohit Netaji lover Support
- Vina Vaswani Centre for Ethics
- Tanu Jnu
- chhotebhai Convenor, Indian Catholic forum
- Irfan Ali Banka J&K RTI FOUNDATION
- मदन लाल हिंद समाजवादी जन परिषद
- Victor Begg
- Anjana Mangalagiri Retired
- Feroz Khan Osman Khan
- Syeda Simran Hasan None other than humanity
- Naveen Gaur University of Delhi
- Dr V N Sharma Individual
- Noor Jahan Memon Aligarh Muslim University
- RAJENDRA SAHAI SCHOLAR AT THE INSTITUTE FOR CRITICAL STUDY OF SOCIETY, OAKLAND, CA
- Mohammed Maqbool Ahmed United Citizens Forum
- siddharth yadav
- Sumeet Agarwal IIT Delhi
- Kalim Ali baig brother
- Priyanshu Gupta Academic
- I’m in support of Prof.Ravikant chandan as well. Manav ekta manch Ayodhya UP
- helen
- Robin Verma Shia PG College Lucknow
- Dr. Amit Kumar Rai Shia P.G. College Lucknow
- Abhijit Mazumdar CPIML
- sugunakumar samuelraj Independent
- Raj Abhishek Joint action committee – BHU
- Harasankar Adhikari Social worker
- Kabir Kumar Mukerjee-Mustafi India Free of Bigotry
- Gopalan Balagopal Retired civil servant
- Som Thomas Retired IT professional
- Violence against writers unacceptable. Individual
- Afzal Ahmad Khan Citizens Forum for Justice & Peace
- Mohsin Jamali
- t. ramakrishnan
- Santanu Chakravarti None
- Sonika Krantiveer we stand with the fundamental right of Professor Ravi Kant
- Sachendra Pratap Yadav Keep rocking.
- Shivani Student
- Shoeb jagirdar To protect humanity and constitution
- Supriya Joshi Independent
- Ankit Das Independent
- Harish Pandey Business
- Dr. Khålid Ab Northwest Suburn College IL
- Yashwant P sharma
- Mohammad Sambhaavnaa Institute
- Bencita Rural community health worker
- Satinath Choudhary Retd. Professor, New York
- S.R. Hiremath President, Citizens for Democracy
- Alan Chatterjee
- Gabriele Dietrich Professor, Activist, Madurai
- K.P. Soma Independent Researcher
- Bela Bhatia Scholar, Activist
- Prafulla Samantara Activist, Odisha
- Mansee Bal Bhargava Scholar, Activist, Ahmedabad
- Harsh Mander Activist
- Ramesh Dixit Retd. Professor, Lucknow University
- Inamul Hasan Khudai Khidmatgar
- Mohammad Imran New York
- Hiren Gohain Retd. Professor, Assam
- Dr. Pritam Singh Professor Emeritus, Oxford Brookes Business School
- Zoya Hasan Retd. Professor, JNU
