[Reader-list] Pls sign the Romila Thapar Petition - urgent!

[Avishek Ganguly]

dear everyone, probably many of you already know about this another, alarming, yet as always mindless, attempt by the hindu rightwing in india to throttle progressive voices, politics and practices in the country. vilification of prominent academics with accusations of being 'marxist', 'unpatritotic'. 'anti-hindu' etc is only one of the many dangerous methods this madness can take. i'm forwarding a msg from neeladri bhattacharya, professor of history at jnu, new delhi, regarding the latest hindu right campaign in the usa against the appointment of prof romila thapar, one of the greatest historians of post-independence india, to a recently created prestigious chair at the library of congress in washington dc.
 a model protest petition follows the letter. 
you can mail in your name, affiliation and e-mail id to the following address in order to be attched to the petition. thanks,avishek [model letter is below message.  please send the email address, name and institutional affiliation of all those who agree to sign to
isha at ndf.vsnl.net.in.]
_____________________________________________________________ As you may know there is a campaign organized by the Hindu right-wing
in USA against the nomination of Professor Romila Thapar to the Kluge
Chair at the Library of Congress.
I am sending you a letter protesting against this campaign. Could you
please mobilize as many signatures as you can and  send me the email
address, name and institutional affiliation of all those who agree to
sign. The letter should come back to me by Thursday 15 May.We will be
sending the protest letter to the Library of Congress and release it to
the Indian press..
I am sending you two attachments: one gives the details of the campaign
that is being organized in America, the second is the letter of protest
that is to be signed.
For more details on the Hindu right wing campaign against romila's
appointment to the Kluge Chair see the web site:
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/Alerts/IDRT300403.html
  Neeladri_____________________________________________________________ We are shocked at the letter of protest that is circulating in on the
Internet against the appointment of Professor Romila Thapar as First Holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the Library of Congress, USA.  Professor Thapar has been undoubtedly one of the most eminent Indian historians, whose prolific scholarly contribution has opened up new ways of looking at India's past.
        
The petition shows an amazing lack of familiarity with Professor Thapar's
writings. Since the 1960s Professor Thapar has written powerfully against
the colonial stereotypes that India had no past, no sense of time, and no
historical consciousness. The petitioners attribute to her precisely those
ideas that she has spent a lifetime battling against.
        
But clearly the problem is that Professor Thapar's conception of Indian
past is different from that of the petitioners. Professor Thapar has looked
at a variety of cultural traditions in the making of ancient India. To the
petitioners Indian past is monolithic, unified and unmistakably only Hindu.
Those who disagree with this notion are accused of committing cultural
genocide.
        
This is a not just a shocking intolerance of perceptual differences. It is
a politics that seeks to silence critique, and battles for a notion of the
past that is homogeneously Hindu. It is part of a wider attack that we are
witnessing in India today against intellectual and artistic freedom, and
against cultural plurality. In a political milieu where dissent is being
regularly repressed through intimidation, this petition against Professor
Thapar and the hate mails that accompany it, become particular cause of
concern.
        
We strongly protest against this attack on Professor Thapar.
        
        



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