In the last few days, incidents of increase in Hate Speeches have come to the fore across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not clarified his stand on this. Now the students of IMM Bangalore and Ahmedabad have expressed concern regarding this matter. Students of prestigious institutions of the country have written a letter to the PMO in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
his letter has the signatures of students and faculty members of management institutes. A group of students in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday termed his silence on hate speech and attacks on minorities as promoting voices of hatred. It has been said in the letter that this will give rise to hate speech and can create an atmosphere of tension between different communities.
The letter sent to the Prime Minister’s Office has 183 signatories. These include 13 faculty members from IIM Bangalore and three faculty members from IIM Ahmedabad. It has been said in the letter, “Your silence on the rising intolerance in our country, Honourable Prime Minister, is disheartening to all of us who value the multicultural fabric of our country. Your silence, Honourable Prime Minister, emboldens the hate-filled voices and threatens the unity and integrity of our country.” Faculty members and students through their letter have also appealed to PM Modi to stay away from the forces trying to divide the country. Along with this, necessary steps have been asked to be taken for this.
The letter has been drafted by five faculty members of IIM Bangalore. These include the names of Assistant Professor Prateek Raj, Associate Professor Deepak Malghan, Associate Professor Dalhiya Mani, Associate Professor Rajalakshmi V Murthy and Associate Professor Hema Swaminathan. Prateek Raj said that a group of students and teachers took the initiative after realizing that “keep quiet is no longer an option. We have taken this step”.
Other IIM Bangalore faculty members who signed the draft paper are Ishwar Murthy, professor of decision science, Kanchan Mukherjee, professor of organizational behavior and human resource management, Arpit S, assistant professor of public policy, and Rahul Dey, professor of information systems. , Professor of Strategy Sai Yaivaram, Associate Professor Public Policy Rajalakshmi Kamath, Associate Professor Economics and Social Sciences Ritwik Banerjee and Associate Professor Economics and Social Sciences Manaswini Bhalla. Rahul Dey is the Dean of the Institute’s Programs and the President of the Office of International Affairs. Bhalla is the Chairman of the Economics and Social Sciences Section.
Apart from this, the signatories of the letter include Professor Ankur Sarin of Public Systems Group, Professor Navdeep Mathur and Professor Rakesh Basant Economics, who teach at IIM Ahmedabad. Of these professors, Professor Basant, when contacted, said that the letter clarifies the position of the signatories that our aim is to underline the fact that if the voices of hatred are louder, then the voices of reason must be louder.
The letter also referred to the controversial speech of Tejashwi Surya, MP from Bengaluru South, encouraging Hindus to convert to Muslims and Christians. The signatories say that the recent Haridwar and Raipur attacks and Haridwar Dharma Sansad acted as triggers.
Our constitution gives us the right to practice our religion with dignity without any fear, without shame. There is a sense of fear in our country now. Places of worship, including churches, have been vandalized in recent days. There has been a call to take up arms against our Muslim brothers and sisters. All this is done without any fear of due process and without any fear. That’s why we appeal to the PM to stand firm against the forces trying to divide the citizens.
The signatories have appealed to the PM to do everything possible to control the forces inciting hatred and establish the country as a nation. We believe that we can only be a creative society focused on innovation and development. Otherwise, the same society can create division within itself. We want to build an India that can become an example of inclusiveness and diversity in the world.