Bhima Koregaon Case: Over 700 academics, historians & others express solidarity with Prof. Satyanarayana, journalist Kurmanath

India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 10—More than 700 academicians, activists, historians and people from various other professions, in an open letter,  have condemned the fresh round of harassment and arrests of academics and activists by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Bhima Koregaon/Elgaar Parishad and have expressed their solidarity with solidarity with Dr K Satyanarayana and journalist K V Kurmanath who were summoned by the agency for investigation.

Signatories of the letter include renowned names like professors Noam Chomsky, Barbara Harris-White, Jan Breman, Susie Tharu, Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar, Prabhat Patnaik, John Harris, Gyan Prakash, Rajeswari Sunder Rajan and Utsa Patnaik; leading writers and poets like K. Satchidanandan, Mridula Garg, Geeta Kapur and Gita Hariharan, artists like Sudhir Patwardhan and Vivan Sundaram.

While Prof Satyanarayana teaches at the Department of Cultural Studies at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, Kurmanath is a senior journalist and both are sons-in-law of Varavara Rao who is in jail in connection with funding “urban naxals”. Apart from that Varavara Rao has also been accused of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and helping Maoists buy arms from suppliers in Nepal and Manipur.

When the summons were issued to Prof Satyanarayana and journalist Kurmanath, the agency had arrested two more from Kabir Kala Manch-Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor-in Bhima Koregaon/ Elgaar Parishad case.

Prof.  Satyanarayana has been instrumental in establishing Dalit Studies as an academic discipline and has a formidable reputation as a scholar and teacher.

In a message to friends, Prof. Satyanarayana has said that he was directed to “appear before the NIA as a witness under section 160 Cr.PC and also u/s 91 of Cr. PC on 09.09.2020. My co-brother K.V. Kurmanath, a senior journalist, was also summoned to appear at the same time and date”.

“They have been summoned ostensibly to record their statements but it is evident that it is meant to coerce him and KV Kurmanath to make statements that will implicate their father-in-law, the revolutionary poet, Varavara Rao”, the letter said.  

“Prof. Satyanarayana has categorically stated that he was in no way connected to the Bhima Koregaon case. His flat was raided by Pune police in August 2018, under the pretext of collecting evidence against Varavara Rao”, the letter issued by over 700 persons from different professions said.

“In his message to friends, Satyanarayana has underlined that the NIA notice aggravates their family distress at a time when, as it is, Varavara Rao’s health condition is not good and the pandemic is fast spreading in Mumbai. There have been worrying reports about Varavara Rao’s deteriorating health condition in the media”, the letter highlighted.

We see this attempt to harass Prof. Satyanarayana and KV Kurmanath and the arrest of Kabir Kala Manch activists as all of a piece-as part of the frenzied attempts by an insecure regime to browbeat critical and dissenting voices of scholars, journalists and concerned citizens in order to muzzle all kinds of democratic aspirations. We affirm that we stand with them and will continue to support critical voices like theirs, despite the attempts to scare us into submission”, the letter said.

The list of the signatories: