The past five years of the Narendra Modi led BJP government in India has marked one of the most dangerous periods in Indian history. We have witnessed a vicious campaign that has undertaken myriad forms of saffronization, and has affected every aspect of Indian life, ranging from political freedom and liberty, the economy, education, culture, health, environment, and just the safety of large majorities of Indians.  An equally pernicious process of corporatization, where different aspects of hitherto public or common property resources have been summarily written off to strengthen the hands of select capitalist cronies, has accompanied this. In these five years there has been a frightening growth of Hindutva power, which has normalized terrorizing and lynching Muslims, and other religious minorities; attacks on Dalits and Adivasis; heightened conditions of violence against women; other than a concerted effort to undo secular traditions of education at the school, college and university levels. These five years have also produced some extraordinary forms of resistance – by farmers, workers, Dalit, adivasi, and women’s organizations, to students, teachers, artistes, lawyers, and democratic rights groups, all over the country, demanding justice, safety and basic human rights that have been steadily eroded in this period.  What is amply clear is that the ordinary Indian citizen is both horrified by what has been happening in the country, and is completely opposed to the dangers that Narendra Modi and the BJP present to the future of the country.

We, the undersigned academics, pledge to continue fighting the dangers of saffronization and corporatization of India. Institutions of education and learning, at every level, in India have been under steady attack in these past five years. The public university in India, which has since independence, provided high quality, subsidized, education to millions is now under attack. The implications of this affects every aspect – from funding, hiring and academic growth and development, to influencing the kinds of education, including curricular structures, that will be available to students. Instead of being centres of real excellence, that will nurture in students a desire for learning, and instill in them true democratic values, the new privatized arena of higher education will become an elitist gated community, destroying the dreams of social justice and equality that were integral to the making postcolonial India. We urge all Opposition parties, and citizens, of the country to come together to fight the immense dangers that the BJP’s, and Modi’s, saffron agenda presents to us all, and pledge their commitment to India’s Constitutional values. This can be the only way to safeguard Indians from a future that is both physically and intellectually violent.