Over 200 writers, cultural activists respond to the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir

Courtesy, Scroll.in: A Kashmiri woman wipes her tears while listening to a story of a Kashmiri man at a function in New Delhi where compatriots gathered to observe Eid | Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

By revoking the special status of Jammu & Kashmir and splitting it up into two union territories, the central government has made a mockery of democracy. It has violated the solemn promises made to the state of Jammu & Kashmir by the Union of India during the accession of the state in 1947.  

The abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the breakup of the state has been executed unilaterally, clandestinely and coercively. The people — across religious, cultural, ethnic and ideological segments — have not been consulted. Indeed, the unprecedented security and information clampdown in the state since 5th August 2019 is proof of the government’s fear of popular discontent and democratic dissent.  

We, Indians who are writers, artists, media persons and cultural activists, condemn the undemocratic and unconstitutional moves of the government in Jammu & Kashmir. We condemn the government’s division of people and territories from above, subverting the very basis of our constitutional federalism. We condemn the state of siege imposed on the people of a state already suffering for many long years.  

We demand that the state of siege in Jammu & Kashmir be lifted, and all basic freedoms — including those of free expression, communication and media freedoms — be restored with immediate effect. We demand the restoration of Article 370, and the restoration of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. We declare our solidarity with the Kashmiri people, and call on all our fellow citizens to resist this authoritarian challenge to the freedom and autonomy of Jammu & Kashmir. 

Read the statement in Hindi here.

For the Indian Writers Forum

 
1 A Mangai 86 Karthik Venkatesh 171 Shastri Ramachandaran
2 Abhay Maurya 87 Karthika Nair 172 Shaswati Mazumdar
3 Abhinava Bhattacharya 88 Kavery Nambisan 173 Sheba Chhachhi
4 Achin Vanaik 89 Kiran Nagarkar 174 Shoma A Chatterji
5 Ajay Kamalakaran 90 Leena Manimekalai 175 Shyam B Menon
6 Ajitha GS 91 M A Baby 176 Shyama Dasgupta
7 Akeel Bilgrami 92 Madhu Bhaduri 177 Simar Puneet
8 Ali Javed 93 Madhusree Dutta 178 Skye Arundhati Thomas
9 Alok Rai 94 Makarand Sathe 179 Sohail Hashmi
10 Amandeep Sandhu 95 Mangad Rathnakaran 180 Sonia Jabbar
11 Ami Sanyal 96 Mangalesh Dabral 181 Srilata K
12 Amit Bhaduri 97 Manishi Jani 182 Subhash Gatade
13 Amit Chaudhuri 98 Manoj Kulkarni 183 Sudhanva Deshpande
14 Amitav Ghosh 99 Maria Couto 184 Sudhir Chandra
15 Ammu Joseph 100 Martin Macwan 185 Tejal Kanitkar
16 Anand Swaroop Verma 101 Maya Palit 186 TM Krishna
17 Anand Teltumbde 102 Maya Pandit 187 Uday Narkar
18 Ananya Parikh 103 Meena Kandasamy 188 Unni R
19 Ananya Vajpeyi 104 Megha Pansare 189 Vaasanthi Sundaram
20 Ania Loomba 105 Moloyashree Hashmi 190 Valay Singh
21 Anitha Thampi 106 Mridula Koshy 191 Venita Coelho
22 Apoorvanand 107 Mukul Kesavan 192 Venkitesh Ramakrishnan
23 Aritry Das 108 Murli Manohar Prasad Singh 193 Vibha Maurya
24 Arundhati Dhuru 109 N P Chandrasekharan 194 Vijay Prashad
25 Arundhati Ghosh 110 N P Chekkutty 195 Vijaya Venkataraman
26 Arvind Krishna Mehrotra 111 N P Hafiz Mohamad 196 Vikas Narayan Rai
27 Asad Zaidi 112 Naina Dayal 197 Vineet Tiwari
28 Ashok Vajpeyi 113 Nalin Ranjan Singh 198 Vishnu Nagar
29 Ashokan Charuvil 114 Namita Singh 199 Vishwanath Tripathi
30 Ashutosh Kumar 115 Nandini Sundar 200 Vivan Sundaram
31 Atamjit Singh 116 Nandita Narain 201 Vivek Narayanan
32 Ayesha Kidwai 117 Nayantara Sahgal 202 Zahoor Sidiqui
33 B R P Bhaskar 118 Neelan Premji 203 Zoya Hasan
34 Badri Raina 119 Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay 204 Ajai Singh
35 Bali Singh 120 Neeraj Malik 205 Usa Rai
36 Bama 121 Nikhil Narkar 206 Kiran Singh
37 Bezwada Wilson 122 Nilanjana Roy 207 Shobha Singh
38 Bhasha Singh 123 Nirupama Dutt 208 Shreemoyee Moitra
39 Bina Sarkar Ellias 124 Nityanand Tiwari 209 Sahej Rahal
40 C P Aboobacker 125 Nupur Asher 210 Krishnan Unni P
41 C S Chandrika 126 Orijit Sen 211 Indu Chandrasekhar
42 Chaman Lal 127 P N Gopikrishnan 212 Vidya Rao
43 Chanchal Chauhan 128 P Sainath 213 Natasha Ginwala
44 Chandrakant Patil 129 Pamela Philipose 214 Pallavi Paul
45 Civic Chandran 130 Pankaj Bisht 215 Anuradha Kapur
46 Dalip Kaur Tiwana 131 Perumal Murugan 216 Urmilesh
47 Damodar Mauzo 132 Prabhat Patnaik 217 Abhishek Majumdar
48 Danish Husain 133 Prabodh Parikh 218 S Vijayaraghavan
49 Debaditya Bhattacharya 134 Parvathi Ramanathan 219 Senjuti Mukherjee
50 Dileep Chavan 135 Rahman Abbas 220 Mallika Sarabhai
51 Dilip Borkar 136 Rahul Roy 221 Leela Jacinto
52 Divya Bharathi 137 Rajendra Chenni 222 Saba Hasan
53 E V Ramakrishnan 138 Rajendra Rajan 223 Merlin Moli
54 Ebbar Rabbi 139 Rajendra Sharma 224 Rayees Ahemed
55 G Arunima 140 Rajesh Joshi 225 Gita Jayaraj
56 G N Devy 141 Rajesh Saklani 226 Svati Joshi
57 G P Ramachandran 142 Rajib Ray 227 Mohsin Alam Bhatt
58 Gauhar Raza 143 Ram Prakash Tripathi 228 Rachita Taneja
59 Geeta Kapur 144 Ram Rahman 229 Tishani Doshi
60 Geetanjali Shree 145 Raosaheb Kasbe 230 Madhusudhanan
61 Githa Hariharan 146 Rekha Awasthi 231 Promona Sengupta
62 Gopi Krishnan 147 Ritu Menon 232 Tanvi Mishra
63 Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar 148 Rosalyn D’mello 233 Trina Chatterjee
64 Hariyash Rai 149 Rukmini Bhaya Nair 234 Sanjana Sarkar
65 Harsh Mander 150 S Raghunandana 235 Somdev Thakur
66 Hirala Rajasthani 151 Saba Dewan 236 Sukaina Hussain
67 Huchangi Prasad 152 Sadanand Menon 237 Prama
68 Indira Jaising 153 Sahiram 238 Arjita Das
69 Ishrat Syed 154 Saleem Peeradina 239 Arita Chakraborty
70 J Devika 155 Salil Chaturvedi 240 Ashish Sahoo
71 J V Pawar 156 Salim Yusufji 241 Ustab Nath
72 Javed Malick 157 Sambhaji Bhagat 242 Jayant Manchanda
73 Jawari Mal Parakh 158 Samik Bandyopadhyay 243 Savita Singh
74 Jeet Thayil 159 Sandeep Pandey 244 Nikhil Wagle
75 Jenifer Areng Datta 160 Sanjay Bohidar 245 Poile Sengupta
76 Jerry Pinto 161 Sanjay Joshi 246 Abhijit Sengupta
77 K G Shankara Pillai 162 Sanjay Rajoura 247 Bina Paul
78 K N Panikkar 163 Sanjeev Kaushal 248 Girdhar Rathi
79 K Neela 164 Sanjeev Kumar 249 Vishal K Dar
80 K P Ramanunni 165 Sara Joseph 250 Akansha Rastogi
81 K R Meera 166 Sara Rai 251 Nissim Mannathukkaren
82 K Satchidanandan 167 Sethumadhavan 252 Rammohan K T
83 Kalpana Swaminathan 168 Shabnam Hashmi
84 Kanti Mohan 169 Sharankumar Limbale
85 Kanupriya Sharma 170 Shashi Deshpande