SIR: 400 Indian-origin scholars from 27 countries condemn ‘anarchic' street protests

New Delhi, October 19 (IANS): Over 400 Indian-origin students, researchers and alumni from leading universities across 27 countries have signed a statement condemning attempts to undermine public confidence in Indian constitutional institutions and the use of "anarchic" street protests to delegitimise democratic processes.The signatories of the statement, titled “Spare India from Anarchy”, include individuals affiliated with some leading academic institutions, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, Columbia University, London School of Economics (LSE) and National University of Singapore.The Indian-origin students and researchers warned against subverting constitutional democracy under the pretext of defending it, said the statement circulated on Monday.“We urge all social and political forces to take cognisance of our distress and desires and resolve differences through debate, discussion, dialogue and dissent under the roof of constitutional institutions that our venerable founding fathers created for us. India needs to set an example for the democratic world, for all the right reasons. We hope wisdom will prevail,” said the statement.The signatories are currently based in or have studied in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel, the UAE, Kazakhstan, Georgia and the Philippines, among others.The signatories reaffirmed that Indian democracy has repeatedly proven its resilience and constitutional institutions have flourished in the country, with adequate checks and balances.The statement said, “An unconscionable and devious plan of sowing seeds of doubt in Indian democracy has been hatched by weaponising sub-judice matters, which is then amplified on the streets by leaning on anarchist forces, which have historically and philosophically never believed in constitutional form of governance. All in the name of saving democracy. We remain amazed at the irony of all.”As informed people who have stakes in the future of this country and travel the world identifying as ‘Indians,’ we are deeply anguished at this state of affairs, said the signatories.They reminded that Dr B. BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution, warned posterity of this scenario. “He exhorted that for India to survive as a constitutional republic, we must ‘hold fast to constitutional methods… abandon the bloody methods of revolution (which are) the grammar of anarchy.’ Increasingly, anarchy is becoming an expression of choice – ready to supplant the spirit and wisdom of fraternite,” said the statement.The signatories include: Surabhi Hodigere of Harvard University; Devansh Sharma and Samyukta Shrivatsa of Stanford University; Ashik Mayakonda of University of Cambridge; Nitish Rai Parwani, Ashish Gaurav, Shaoni Kar and Mukund Madhav Sharma of University of Oxford; Niyati Yadav of University of Manchester and Rajneesh Kumar Mishra of Yeungnam University (YNU).