49 and then 62: Now, 14 Gujarat intellectuals join the mob-lynching issue
Ahmedabad, July 30: After 49 eminent personalities’ open letter expressing concern over intolerance and mob-lynching incidents and then 62 others coming out in the BJP support, a group of 14 intellectuals from Gujarat and other places, on Tuesday, said such an “open letter” creates conflicting atmosphere and may tarnish India’s image.
The fresh statement includes writers, former vice-chancellors, historians, leading journalists and others, who said the celebrities’ open letter to the Prime Minister may create “disharmony” in the society. The PM had “categorically spoken out against it repeatedly.”
The signatories were in “complete disagreement” against the statement issued by a segment of activists and demoralized politically-motivated group of the country on the issue of the “so-called mob-lynching and intolerance”. They also extended whole-hearted support for the BJP’s slogan of “Sabka saath, sabka vikas”.
They said these statements reflected a deliberately spread misinformation in a “biased way to flatter a specific social group.” Through their popular mandate, the people of India had given “clear cut” answer to those who issued statements in the name of mob-lynching.
Signatories to this fresh letter included Dr Vishnu Pandya (journalist-columnist), Prof Kamlesh Joshipura (former VC of IIT-Gandhinagar), Dr Shirish Kashikar (journalist and communication expert), Dr Chandrashekhar (gastroenterologist, Chennai), Dr VR Rajendran (former VC, Vinayak Mission University, Salem, Tamil Nadu), Rajendra Pandey (senior lawyer, Allahabad High Court) and R P Luthra (senior counsel, Delhi High Court).
