By: The Coalition of Progressive South Asian Students at Columbia

Dear SIPA Administration,

For the past few months, Indian farmers have coordinated the world’s biggest protest movement. Farmers are using their right to free speech, to publicly advocate against the recent attempts to privatize the farming sector. As according to the Constitution of India, citizens have the right to: freedom of speech and expression; assemble peacefully and without arms; form associations and unions; and move freely throughout India. By setting up barricades, using water cannons on protestors, and not giving permissions to protest sites, the Indian government is in violation of these constitutional rights. Even more egregious, the Indian government has used tear gas on protesters in violation of international humanitarian law,  arbitrarily arrested public advocates, activists and journalists without due process, and shut down the internet for protestors concentrated in Delhi. The Indian Government has strong-armed Twitter into complicity by threatening Twitter employees with imprisonment. The Modi administration, through acts of threat and intimidation, has forced Twitter to shut down a number of accounts belonging to public activists in the farmer movement. A dangerous precedent has been set: Freedoms can be given or taken away at the whim of an undemocratic administration.

So far, SIPA has yet to put out a statement. We remind you that silence is complicity. Beyond this being a human rights issue, a large percentage of your student body is made up of students who are either Indian citizens or of Indian ethnicity. Beyond this group, other students have been engaging via social media to advocate against the undemocratic acts of the Modi administration. Your students have a stake in what is occurring in the world’s biggest democracy. We ask that you stand by your values as a renowned world policy institution and take the following actions:

1. Formally denounce the violation of human rights, internet shutdowns, and silencing of free and political speech taking place right now in India.

2. Host a series of SIPA-sponsored panel talks which would invite journalists, activists, and academics to discuss the social, economic and political circumstances in which the farmers' protests are happening.

3. While in most circumstances, getting both perspectives is valuable, violation of human rights and democratic freedoms are not among them. We ask the SIPA administration to consider the history of actions and conduct of Indian personalities with whom the school collaborates or conducts business.The following is a list of specific actions that should be taken by the SIPA administration:

   1. Call upon the Deepak and Neera Raj Center at SIPA and India Business Initiative at CBS to condemn the infringement of democratic rights, internet freedoms and deteriorating human rights in India.

   2. Formally request the Deepak and Neera Raj Center to cut ties with current BJP party members. The center has invited mostly BJP supporters and party members to speak at SIPA-backed events, while actively preventing and censoring students’ attempts to advance valid criticisms of the incumbent government’s policies.

We hope you take these words into consideration and look forward to seeing your actions going forward. Once again, as a world leading institution, SIPA cannot afford to be silent in the face of such injustices.

Sincerely,

The Coalition of Progressive South Asian Students at Columbia

Sign onto the open letter to the SIPA administration here.