In a coordinated appeal that has drawn signatories from some of the world’s most prestigious universities, more than 400 Indian-origin students, researchers, and alumni have issued a strongly worded statement titled “Spare India from Anarchy.”
The document, released this week, condemns what its authors describe as a deliberate effort to erode public confidence in India’s constitutional institutions and to replace parliamentary processes with street-level disruption.
The signatories come from 27 countries across four continents, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel, the UAE, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the Philippines.
They represent institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, the London School of Economics, the National University of Singapore, Seoul National University, the University of Manchester, and the University of Toronto.
The organisers point out that individual affiliations do not mean the institutions themselves endorse this effort.
The statement begins with “deep concern about the very troubling developments in India”. It references 70 years of a resilient democracy in which institutions have strengthened, the system of checks and balances has worked and peaceful transfers of power have been the rule.
Against that backdrop, it speaks of a “frenzy of election denial”, a “relentless attack on the institutions of our democracy” and a “street over Sansad” mentality. Unhappy election results have been met with a campaign of denial of the process, and adverse judgements of the courts have been the subject of commentary which, in effect, questions the independence of the judiciary. Even the Armed Forces, the country’s most apolitical institution, have found themselves in the firing line.
At the heart of the criticism is the charge of an “unconscionable and devious plan to sow the seeds of doubt in Indian democracy” by taking issues still before the courts and fanning them into a flame through “anarchist forces” who, the signatories point out, “have historically and in principle never believed in a constitutional form of government”. All of this is being done “in the name of saving democracy”.
The text refers to BR Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Indian Constitution, who warned that the Republic’s survival would depend on “clinging to constitutional methods” and “abandoning the bloody methods of revolution which are the grammar of anarchy”. The signatories note that anarchy is increasingly presented as a conscious choice rather than a last resort, and they reject what they describe as “perverse, regressive means to achieve narrow, self-serving ends”.
Whilst recognising that dissent is “an essential ingredient of democracy”, they make it clear they will not be “silent spectators to the subversion of the democratic apparatus in its guise”. They call on all social and political forces to resolve differences through debate, discussion, dialogue, and dissent “within the precincts of the constitutional institutions which our revered founding fathers created for us”. India, they conclude, “has to lead the democratic world for the right reasons”.
The statement comes amid considerable political wrangling in India. By drawing the line between legitimate opposition and the deliberate undermining of institutional legitimacy, the signatories position themselves as guardians of constitutional politics rather than partisans of any particular government.
The sheer scale, though (over 400 voices from leading universities across 27 countries), means it will certainly be seen and heard well beyond India’s borders. The organisers have appended the full text of the appeal and the complete list of signatories for those who want to examine the substance of the claims and the credentials of those making them.