Join Protest at Arts Faculty, Baroda on 14th May 2007

WE APPEAL ALL FRIENDS, FELLOW ACTIVISTS, YOUNG STUDENTS TO JOIN THE PROTEST ORGANISED BY VADODARA GROUPS. INFORMATION PASTED BELOW.

SHABNAM HASHMI/ MANAN TRIVEDI - ON BEHALF OF ANHAD

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Dear All,

You are all aware of the latest Sangh Parivar offensive against the democratic rights of the students and Faculty members of the well known Fine Arts Faculty of Baroda, M.S.University. The Fine Arts Faculty is one of the best institutions within the M.S.University, which has managed to retain high academic standards, in the face of the general academic deterioration within the University.

The recent incident of hooliganism and blatant bullying unleashed by the Sangh Parivar has sent shock waves all over the country. It took place on Wednesday, 9th May 2007, at around 3 p.m. As part of the examination procedure underway in the Faculty, students are supposed to put up their works which are to be assessed by external examiners who come in from outside the city for this purpose. Accordingly, students had put up their installations around the Faculty campus. Some of these installations, (graphic prints) by Chandra Mohan attracted the wrath of the BJP leader Neeraj Jain, who barged into the campus with a bunch of goons and started disrupting the atmosphere, using abusive language and mouthing threats.

They roughed up the Chandra Mohan and accused him of offending their religious sentiments, saying that he had portrayed Durga Mata in an obscene way. Not by any stretch of imagination did the prints actually portray any goddess. Under the leadership of Neeraj Jain (who had incidentally played a very dubious role in the May 2006 riots that followed the demolition of a 200 year old dargah in the heart of the city), and with the police in tow, they took Chandra Mohan and a friend of his away to the Sayajiganj police station. Shivji Panickkar, the acting Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty, was also threatened with dire consequences by Neeraj Jain and his goons.
Chandra Mohan’s friend was released later, but he was himself charged under sections 153 and 114. Later, on 10th May, when the bail application came up for hearing, two more charges were slapped on him, namely, Section 295 A and 295 B, and he was taken under judicial custody, and moved to the Central Jail. By now, Christian fundamentalists had joined hands with the Hindutvavadis. Alongwith the VHP and BJP crowds, reportedly, there were at least 40 priests in the court when Chandra Mohan’s bail application came up for hearing. The priests were objecting to some painting to do with a cross - which, they thought offended their religious feelings.

In the meantime, Shivji Panickkar met the Vice Chancellor, who basically, wanted him to make a statement that was nothing short of an apology for putting up offensive installations. Panickkar refused to do so. After this, the students submitted a statement expressing thier concern over such tactics, and with a set of their demands, which included police bandobast for the Faculty. Reportedly, Neeraj Jain barged into the Vice Chancellor’s office on the same day, and threatened that he would make sure that the entire city would shut down if a single case is registered against him.

As of now, all efforts are on to get Chandra Mohan released.
However, what is of grave concern in this entire unfolding of events is the fascist agendas that underly the actions of the likes of Neeraj Jain.

Citizenship and democratic rights face a grave crisis in the State of Gujarat and elsewhere. The nexus between the police and elements of the Sangh Parivar is so clearly established (it has been so since 2002) and it is also clear that fascist tactics affect everybody. In this instance, it is not only a matter for the artist community to agitate about. It is for ALL of us to sit up and take notice of what is going on in the name of religion. If we do not counter these tactics NOW, we are all going to be crushed sooner or later, either in our work arenas or within the confines of our homes. The dangers of giving in to or being cowed down by these forces cannot be underestimated.

THE FACULTY OF FINE ARTS HAS PLANNED A LARGE DEMONSTRATION FOR 14TH MAY 2007, MONDAY WHERE ARTISTS, LAWYERS, DOCTORS, ORDINARY CITIZENS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY WILL GET TOGETHER IN PROTEST AGAINST SUCH GAGGING OF EXPRESSION AND VIOLATION OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS. PLEASE DO COME FOR THE DEMONSTRATION, AND MOTIVATE OTHERS TO JOIN IT. THE TIME TO ACT IS UPON US, WE CANNOT ABDICATE OUR RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS SOCIETY, OURSELVES AND THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS.
VENUE: FINE ARTS FACULTY, M.S.UNIVERSITY , FATEHGANJ,
BARODA
TIME: 2 PM ONWARDS

CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS:
BINA SRINIVASAN: 9879377280
SHIVJI PANICKKAR: 9898403097
Best
Bina

PS: pls. circulate this email to as many people as possible. Thanks.