IIM students, faculty ask PM to ‘stand firm against forces that divide country’

A section of students and faculty from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him not to remain silent on hate speeches and caste-based violence in the country.

The letter has been written in the backdrop of the recent Haridwar Dharam sansad in Uttarakhand where some religious leaders had urged people to take up arms against Muslims.

The Prime Minister’s silence, the signatories said, will only serve the purpose of emboldening the hate-filled voices. “Your silence, Honourable Prime Minister, emboldens the hate-filled voices and threatens the unity and integrity of our country. We request you, Honourable Prime Minister, to stand firm against forces that seek to divide us,” the letter read.

Also read: Why OTT platforms in India need to step out of IIM mindset

The students and faculty said such hate speeches and calls for violence against communities based on religion/caste identities is unacceptable.

The signatories said there was a sense of fear among people despite Constitutional guarantee on practicing one’s religion. “There is a sense of fear in our country now – places of worship, including churches in recent days, are being vandalised, and there have been calls to take arms against our Muslim brothers and sisters. All of this is carried out with impunity and without any fear of due process.”

The letter has 183 signatories, including 13 faculty members of IIM Bangalore and three of IIM Ahmedabad.

The letter was drafted by Prateek Raj (Assistant Professor of Strategy); Deepak Malghan (Associate Professor, Public Policy), Dalhia Mani (Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship); Rajluxmi V Murthy (Associate Professor, Decision Sciences); and Hema Swaminathan (Associate Professor, Public Policy).