IndiaTomorrow.net,Washington DC, Feb 14: Leading Indian American advocacy organizations have condemned the arrests and detention of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi on sedition charges.
The Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA), a broad coalition of Indian American organizations working to safeguard pluralism and democracy in India, along with prominent Dalit organizations such as the Ambedkar Association of North America (AANA) and the Dalit History Month issued a joint statement condemning “the arbitrary arrests and the open violation of civil rights of the protesting students.”
JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on Friday two days after an event at the campus where some anti-India slogans were raised.
“Use of sedition laws belongs to the colonial era, not to a modern democracy. It makes a mockery of the freedom of speech provisions of the Constitution”, said Umar Malick from Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC). “It clearly points to the penchant of the government to use the law, even archaic ones, as a political tool to silence student protests,” Malick added.
“We unequivocally condemn the action of the government and the portrayal of student protests as seditious. All citizens that value democracy should be concerned at this development and raise their voice in demanding that government and police stay out of campus politics. This is a direct assault on democracy,” read the statement
“An India without the freedom of speech is not a democracy,” said Bhajan Singh, founding director of the Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). “Students with differences of opinion are the natural byproducts of a vibrant and healthy atmosphere in education, which should be encouraged and not stifled by the ruling party in government.”
