Students, faculty of IIMs ask PM Modi to take stand against hate speeches

Students and faculty members of two of India's premier B-schools, Indian Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday raising the issue of hate speech against minorities in India. The letter said PM's silence on such issues 'emboldens' divisive forces in the country, a report in the Indian Express newspaper said.

The letter was signed by 183 students and 16 faculty members from both the institutes. It was mailed to the Prime Minister's Office, according to the newspaper.

“Your silence on the rising intolerance in our country, Honourable Prime Minister, is disheartening to all of us who value the multicultural fabric of our country. Your silence, Honourable Prime Minister, emboldens the hate-filled voices and threatens the unity and integrity of our country,” says the letter according to the Indian Express report.

“Our Constitution gives us the right to practice our religion with dignity – without fear, without shame. 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 said.

“For far too long, the mainstream discourse has dismissed the voices of hate as the fringe. That’s how we are here,” Prateek Raj, assistant professor of Strategy at IIM-Bangalore was quoted as saying in the report. He also said that it was the initiative of a group of students and faculty members who believed that 'silence was not an option anymore'.

The letter requested the PM to stand firm and lead the country away from those seeking to divide the nation.