“The Democratic Republic of India seems to be moving into a coma”

Thirteen days after political activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the UAPA, in connection with Bhima Koregaon case, as many as 52 prominent personalities including activists, intellectuals and MPs have issued a statement in support of the jailed activists.

Saying that the arrest of Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha under the draconian provisions of the UAPA highlights insensitivity on part of the state, the statement issued by the prominent citizens reads, “The Democratic Republic of India seems to be moving into a coma. Its organs and its body politic seem stunned into inaction and insensitivity”.

Hearing on bail petitions filed by Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde, the Supreme Court in the second week of March had rejected the plea, asking the activists to surrender three weeks.

Full text of the statement can be read here –

Dr. Anand Teltumbde and Shri Gautam Navlakha were marched to prison under the draconian provisions of UAPA.

It happened on the birthday of Dr BR Ambedkar.

We had seen, only days ago, heart-rending visuals of hundreds of thousands of Indians made to trudge hundreds of kilometers, on foot, back to distant home, as they were overnight rendered homeless, jobless, and without any means of transport.

They are also Indians whom our Constitution empowered as equal citizens.

The Democratic Republic of India seems to be moving into a coma. Its organs and its body politic seem stunned into inaction and insensitivity.

No official ritual of invoking and paying tributes to Dr. Ambedkar would have appeared so empty as it did on 14.4.2020.

We have faith in the invincible spirit and genius of the Indian people. India has overcome worse challenges and situations. The sacrifice of her sons and daughters will not go in vain.

We appeal to our fellow citizens to ponder over the events, do some introspection and rededicate themselves to upholding the fundamentals of the Constitution, come what may.

In solidarity with Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, and hundreds of thousands other nameless Indian citizens subjected to humiliation and suffering and pledging our support to them in their hour of trial -

1. S. P. Shukla

2. Jaya Mehta

3. Vineet Tiwari

4. Anuradha Chenoy

5. Kamal Mitra Chenoy

6. Amarjeet Kaur

7. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

8. Sukumar Muralidharan

9. Benny Kuruvilla

10. Antara Dev Sen

11. Lata Singh

12. Sourav Banerjee

13. Kumar Ambuj

14. Nandini Sundar

15. Gauhar Raza

16. Vijay Singh

17. Achin Vanaik

18. Anand Patwardhan

19. C. K. Raju

20. Sharad Chandra Behar

21. Ashok Chowdhury

22. Amit Narkar

23. Chamanlal

24. Mansi Sharma

25. Shekhar Mallick

26. Binoy Viswam

27. B. Youvraj

28. Adwait Pednekar

29. Manasi Pingle

30. Kalpana Mehta

31. Archishman Raju

32. Kaneez Fathima

33. Uma Bhrugubanda

34. Rukmini Rao

35. Santosh Khare

36. Ankuram Sumitra

37. Akhileshwari Ramagoud

38. Sharanya Nayak

39. Shiba Minai

40. Suvrat Raju

41. Deepak Dholakia

42. Freny Manecksha

43. Deepti Raj

44. Mandakini Mallaram

45. Padmaja Shaw

46. Sarika Shrivastava

47. Kamal Nayan Kabra

48. Akhilendra Pratap Singh

49. S. R. Darapuri

50. Vrinda Shukla Phadke

51. Bina Sharif

52. Sudha Kothari