‘We Stand With Students of India’, Say 100 Writers, Artistes; Seek Probe Into Use of Police Force

New Delhi: About a 100 writers and artistes of India have endorsed a statement expressing their “unwavering solidarity” with students across the country, who are protesting against an unfair examination system and for reforms in the education system. They are demanding government accountability and resignation if Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The statement, signed by eminent writers and artistes, such as K Satchidandan, Banu Mushtaq, Mallika Sarabhai, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Geetanjali Shree among others, has called of a dialogue with the protesting students as well as demanded an impartial inquiry into the incidents of violence against students and unwarranted use of force during police action on July 20, in and around the student protest site in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

Read the full statement below:

Statement by Writers and Artists of India

We, the undersigned writers, and artists of India, express our unwavering solidarity with the students across the country who are demanding transparency, accountability, and comprehensive reforms in the conduct of public examinations. The repeated instances of question paper leaks and other irregularities have gravely questioned the integrity of public institutions.

We are deeply disturbed by the reports of use of force against students engaged in peaceful democratic protest in different parts of the country, including at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. In a constitutional democracy, the legitimate concerns of young citizens must be met with dialogue and justice, not by violence and intimidation.

We call upon the Government of India and the concerned State Governments to take swift and stringent action against all those responsible for examination paper leaks and related malpractice.

We also demand an honest dialogue with the students and an impartial inquiry into the incidents of violence against students and unwarranted use of force.

We stand with the students of India in their peaceful struggle for justice, accountability, and a trustworthy examination system.

We urge fellow writers, artists and thinkers from all parts of the country to come out in support of the demands of students to decide the future of our democracy.

We the undermentioned writers and artists give our consent to above statement

K. Satchidanandan, Ashok Vajpeyi, Damodar Mauzo, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Banu Mushtaq, Mallika Sarabhai, Bhalachandra Nemade, Kanji Patel, Vasant Abaji Dahake, A.J. Thomas, Arun Kamal, Chandrakant Patil, Githa Hariharan, Peggy Mohan, Rajesh Joshi, Gitanjali Shree, Prafull Shiledar, Kamalakar Bhatt, Anwar Ali, Anamika, Ranganath Pathare, Prabodh Parikh, Kamal Vora, Atul Dodiya, Udayan Vajpeyi, Swati Joshi, Neela Adarkar, Sanjukta Wagh, Rimli Bhattacharya, Amrut Gangar, Ajay Rawl, Shirin Gandhi, Raynuka Nidagundi, Anju Dodiya, Varjesh Solanki, Deepak Rawal, Chirantana Bhatt, Harish Minashru, Kumar Ambuj, Jivan Singh, Premchand Gandhi, Hemendra Chandaliya, Prabal Kumar Basu, Amar Mitra, Bikash Roy Debbarma, Vandana Tete, Vahru Sonvane, Pradnya Daya Pawar, Joram Yalam, Nilim Kumar, Snehlata Negi, Santanu Sarma, Atul Pethe, Rajan Gavs, Pravin Bandekar, Satpal Bhikhi, Heera Meena, Pravin Pandya, Bakul Tailor, B.Rajeevan, Savithri Rajeevan, J. Devika, Ramesh Karthik Naik, Hemant Divate, P. Raman, P.N. Gopikrishnan, P.P. Ramchandran, Ishan Marvel, Kedarnath Mishra, Parijat Pandya, Ranjana Argade, Angshuman Kar, Rita Kothari, Pratibha Nandakumar, Swapnamoy Chakraborty, Joseph S., Prabha Majumdar, Sucharita Dutta-Asane, Mrityunjay Kumar Singh, Meena Kandasamy, Parthiv Shah, K.R. Tony, Rafiq Ahmed, Rahamat Tarikere, Rajendra Chenni, Sudhir Chandra, Ranjit Hoskote, Sanjeev Khandekar, Ruchir Joshi, Manisha Joshi, Monika Biswas, Moushumi Bhoumik, Ayesha Agrawal, Danish Husain, Mamata Sagar, Mehul Devkala, Gopika Jadeja, Umesh Solanki, Devanooru Mahadeva, Paranjoy Guha-Thakurta.