Mangaluru: An open letter endorsed by several organisations such as the Campaign to Defend Democracy, All India People’s Forum (AIPF), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and human activists such as Amar Jesani, P. Sainath, Anil Sadagopal, Dunu Roy, Harsh Mander, Kavita Srivatsava, Meera Sanghamitra, Nandini Sundar, Pieter Friedrich, Ram Puniyani among many others was released on Friday October 8.
The signatories condemn the open threats to violence by the Hindutva fascist groups such as ABVP, VHM and Bajrang Dal against a private autonomous Catholic college in Mangaluru for its decision to name one of its parks after the late Fr. Stan Swamy whose death has become symbolic of the systemic oppression of a human rights activist standing with the most marginalised communities.
“We call upon the District Administration and the Police to take immediate action against these organisations for engaging in criminal intimidation and issuing such threats. They have absolutely no right to interfere in the goings on of the private institution. These organisations have a stated purpose and history for violence, communal divisiveness and subscribe to an idea of our country, with scant regard to the Constitution and the Rule of Law,” the letter stated.
Through the letter, they called for “swift and urgent action by the district authorities against this form of criminal intimidation of members and institutions of minority communities.”