Academicians, writers, journalists condemn FIRs against Miyah poets: 'Labels will only sharpen Assam's brittle faultlines, create conditions for ethnic, communal violence'

Editor’s Note: A group of academicians and writers issued a public statement condemning FIRs against ten people, including Miyah poets and other activists, over a poem titled “Write it down, I am a Miyah.” The statement termed the FIR an attempt to “malign and criminalise the Miyah poets”. It urges the government to enable the writers to “to speak and write freely without fear of fear, harm or intimidation.” Here is the full text of the public statement along with the names of over 220 signatories.

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Public statement against the recent FIRs against Miyah poets and online trolling

On 10 July 2019, an FIR was filed against ten Miyah poets and other activists from Assam under five different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Telecommunications Act for a poem titled Write it Down, I am a Miyah written by senior Miyah poet, Hafiz Ahmed. The FIR accused the poets and activists, amongst other things, of depicting the Assamese people as “xenophobic in the eyes of the whole world” and posing a “serious threat to the Assamese people as well as towards the national security and harmonious social atmosphere.”

A week later, at least three more FIRs were filed over the same poem. Meanwhile, several of these poets/activists are being subjected to a barrage of online trolling and intimidation by certain individuals on social media and WhatsApp. These include death threats, rape threats and other explicit forms of harassment. There is also a wider attempt to malign the young Miyah poets and in fact, the entire Miyah community, through derogatory, lurid and baseless stereotypes. This malicious campaign only adds fuel to the existing sentiment of hostility against Bengali-origin Muslims of Assam who remain highly vulnerable to ethno-nationalist majoritarianism and anti-immigrant rhetoric in the state.

We unequivocally condemn such attempts to malign and criminalise the Miyah poets. Poetry can be a spontaneous and legitimate medium of expression of collective trauma, grievances and emotions. In the absence of other avenues, it often becomes the sole medium of speaking truth to power. Every single individual and community has and should have, the natural right to do so without the fear of perverse consequences, including punitive action (such as FIRs). The criminalisation of any poetry marks the death of a healthy, democratic and humane society that we want Assam to be. In this context, we see Miyah Poetry as a legitimate form of literary protest against the victimisation of Bengal-origin Muslims of Assam.

In this regard, we remind the principal stakeholders — the judicial system, on which we rest many of our hopes, and the media — of the fundamental rights guaranteed through the highest laws of the country i.e. those enshrined in the Constitution: Article 14 ensuring equality before the law, Article 15 defining equality of opportunity, and Article 19 upholding freedom of speech and expression, subject to “reasonable restrictions”. We, thus, expect and urge the government and other mandate holders to uphold the constitutional rights of all citizens, which also include the right of writers to speak and write freely without fear of fear, harm or intimidation. We believe that anyone attempting to impinge on these fundamental rights with arbitrariness and frivolous interpretations must face the full force of the law.

Further, we strongly condemn the manner in which certain lines from some old poems have been selectively quoted, distorted and taken out of context to project them as “anti-Assamese” or “anti-social”, as also highlighted in the recent statement released by the Miyah poets/activists. These are labels that only sharpen Assam’s brittle faultlines and create conditions for ethnic and communal violence. We urge all parties to refrain from using such simplistic and baseless titles against the poets.

Finally, we unequivocally condemn the cyberbullying, harassment and threats that the Miyah poets, activists and their friends are being subjected to. Such conduct is not just downright unacceptable in civil society, but also fall under the ambit of criminal offences. We urge all members of Assam’s civil society, including prominent intellectuals, to publicly condemn the trolling of Miyah poets/activists and urge the police to take necessary action against the perpetrators.

The final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is about to be published on 31 July. In this context, the timing of the controversy and the vilification of the poets point to dangerous times ahead. We appeal to all people to assert their voices against hate, suspicion, chauvinism and censorship of literary expressions.

Signatories

1. Suraj Gogoi, Doctoral Candidate, National University of Singapore (NUS) 2. Parag Jyoti Saikia, Doctoral Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 3. Angshuman Choudhury, policy analyst 4. Jyotirmoy Talukdar, Writing Tutor, Centre for Writing and Communication, Ashoka University 5. Aarthi Achuthappa, Graduate Student, National University of Singapore 6. Aashita Dawer, faculty, Jindal Global University. 7. Abhilash Rajkhowa, President, Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Panjab University 8. Abhinav P. Borbora, political commentator 9. Abhishek Chakraborty, queer activist 10. Adeel Ahmed, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme court of India 11. Aditi Dey Sarkar, Doctoral Candidate, IIT Bombay 12. Aditya Prakash, documentary filmmaker 13. Aditya Ranjan Pathak, Postgraduate student, Ambedkar University 14. Ahmed Sohaib, academic 15. Ajitha GS, publisher 16. Akruti Ramachandra, law student, JGLS 17. Amit R Baishya, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Oklahoma 18. Amrita Das Gupta, Doctoral Student, National University of Singapore 19. Anamika Deb, Student 20. Anirban Chatterjee, PhD Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University 21. AnirbanDatta, filmmaker 22. Anjali Monteiro, filmmaker and academic 23. Anjuman Ara Begum, Human Rights Activist, Guwahati 24. Ankit Rathore, Production Editor, The Economist 25. Ann Norinne Suk, Doctoral Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 26. AnnuJalais, Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore 27. Antora Borah, Research Associate, Council for Social Development, New Delhi 28. Anwesha Dutta, Postdoctoral Researcher, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway 29. Apoorvanand, Professor, Department of Hindi, University of Delhi 30. Arijit Sen, journalist 31. Arjun Rajendran, poet 32. ArunabhDebendranathKonwar, student 33. Arundhati Ghosh, Cultural Professional, Bengaluru 34. Asad Zaidi, poet and publisher 35. AsemChanuManimala, Independent Researcher 36. Ashish Xaxa, PhD Scholar, TISS Mumbai 37. Avijit Mukul Kishore, filmmaker 38. Avishek Parui, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras 39. Ayesha Kidwai, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University 40. Baidurya Chakrabarti, academic 41. Balawansuk Lynrah, Doctoral Student, National University of Singapore 42. Bhargabi Das, Research Scholar, Maynooth University, Ireland 43. Bijoy Sankar Barman, poet 44. Biman Nath, Professor, Raman Research Center 45. Bobo Khuraijam, filmmaker 46. Boishakhi Dutta, Senior Sub-editor, The Telegraph 47. Bondita Acharya, Activist 48. Chander Uday Singh, Senior Advocate, New Delhi 49. Chandita Mukherjee, filmmaker 50. DN Kalia, Delhi University 51. Daisy Barman, PhD Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University 52. Debarshi Das, academic 53. Debayudh Chatterjee, poet and translator 54. Debika, Assamese Queer Woman 55. Debopriya Shome, Student, Jadavpur University 56. Dhiman Barman, poet 57. DhrijyotiKalita, PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota 58. Disha Yadav, MA Public Policy, OP Jindal Global University 59. Dr Costanza Rampini, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Department, San José State University 60. Dr Kamal Kumar Tanti, writer, poet, researcher 61. Dr. Laifungbam Debabrata Roy, President, CORE Manipur 62. Dr. Dibyadyuti Roy, Assistant Professor, Communications, IIM Indore 63. Fathima Nizaruddin, filmmaker 64. Gaurav Mittal, Doctoral Candidate, National University of Singapore 65. Gautam Sonti, filmmaker 66. Ghazala Jamil, academic 67. Gorky Chakraborty, Associate Professor, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata 68. Hany Babu, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Delhi 69. Har Kumar Goswami, Social Activist 70. Haripriya Soibam, poet and academic 71. Heba Ahmed, PhD student, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) 72. Henry Robert Goldsmith, Researcher 73. Himalaya Bora, Doctoral Student, IIT Guwahati 74. Hoda Bandeh-Ahmadi, Director of Social Research, Center for Surgical Training and Research, University of Michigan 75. Illito Achumi, Faculty, Tata Institute of Social Sciences 76. Indrani Chatterjee, Professor of History, University of Texas. 77. Jabeen Merchant, film editor 78. James Daimary 79. Jennifer Shaheen Hussain, Media Researcher 80. Jhilmil Breckenridge, poet 81. Joel Rodrigues, Researcher 82. Jonmani Das, MPhil student, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University 83. K. P. Jayasankar, filmmaker and academic 84. Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Professor, Centre for Comparative Politics & Political Theory, Jawaharlal Nehru University 85. Kankana Talukdar, Doctoral Candidate, Jawaharlal Nehru University 86. Karama Sherap Bhutia, Research Scholar 87. Karthik Teegalapalli, Wildlife Biologist 88. Kartikeya Jain, Editor, Speaking Tiger 89. Kaushik Barua, author 90. Kiran Keshavamurthy, Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati 91. Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Vice Dean, OP Jindal Global University 92. Koyamparambath Satchidanandan, poet 93. Likhita Banerji, human rights researcher 94. Litul Baruah, Program & Analytics Specialist (Global), C&A Foundation 95. Madhubanti Chanda, Dancer and Research Scholar, CSSS Calcutta 96. Madhulika Reddy, Student, JGLS 97. Madhurima Nundy, Institute of Chinese Studies 98. Mainak Moitra, Senior Copyeditor, Cogencis Information Services Ltd 99. Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee, writer 100. Manisha Sethi, academic 101. Manjiri Indurkar, Writer 102. Manjita Devi, Doctoral Candidate, IIT Bombay 103. Mansi Sharma, activist 104. Maroona Murmu, Associate Professor, Jadavpur University 105. Mayur Suresh, Lecturer, SOAS, University of London 106. Meenakshi Nair, Doctoral Candidate, Graduate School Geneva 107. Meghadeepa Chakraborty, Banasthali Vidyapeeth University 108. Mekhala Saran, poet, writer 109. Mihir Vatsa, poet 110. Minakshi Rajdev, PhD Candidate, Center for Historical Studies, JNU 111. Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi 112. Mitra Phukan, novelist and translator. 113. Mitul Baruah, Assistant Professor, Ashoka University 114. Monami Basu, Assistant Professor, University of Delhi 115. Mohinder Singh, Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University 116. Mukul Haloi, filmmaker 117. Mukul Priyadarshini, Delhi University 118. Nabanipa Bhattacharjee, academic 119. Nabina Das, poet 120. Nalini Taneja, historian 121. Namrata Pathak, Assistant Professor, North East Hill University (NEHU) 122. Nasreen Habib, journalist 123. Neshat Quaiser, academic 124. Niranjan Nath, National School of Drama 125. Nishita Goswami, actor 126. Nitasha Kaul, Author/Poet/Associate Professor, University of Westminster 127. Nitin Pegu, cinematographer 128. Nitoo Das, Poet 129. Nivedita Menon, Professor, Centre for Comparative Politics & Political Theory, Jawaharlal Nehru University 130. Nupur Basu, journalist 131. Oliullah Laskar, Advocate, Guwahati High Court 132. Palaash Bhargava, PhD Candidate, Columbia University in New York 133. Parasher Baruah, filmmaker 134. Partha Pratim Saikia, PhD Student, IIT Kharagpur 135. Parvin Sultana, Assistant Professor, PB College, Gauripur 136. Patricia Mukhim, senior journalist 137. Pooja Nirala, freelance writer 138. Poonam Batra, Professor of Education, Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi 139. Prabhakar Singh, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean (Research), JGLS 140. Pradip Kumar Datta, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University 141. Pragati Kalita, queer rights activist 142. Pramod Mandade, Doctoral Candidate, IIT Bombay 143. Pranab Doley, rights activist 144. Prannv Dhawan, Joint Convenor, Law and Society Committee, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru 145. Prasad Khanolkar, Faculty, IIT Guwahati 146. Prasenjit Biswas, Human Rights Activist 147. Prativa Thomas, affiliated with Amnesty International, Sheffield, UK 148. Praveen Donthi, journalist 149. Preeti Gill, literary agent and publishing consultant 150. Prerana Anjali Choudhury, Independent Researcher and Writer 151. Pritiviraj Borah, Doctoral Candidate, IIT Bombay 152. Priya Sen, filmmaker 153. Priya Sharma, PhD Candidate IIT Bombay 154. Priyanka K, journalist 155. Radhika Rani, Assistant Professor, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai 156. Rafiul Alom Rahman, Activist 157. Rana Saikia, MPhil Scholar, University of Delhi 158. Ravi Singh, publisher and co-founder,Speaking Tiger Books 159. Ravi Sundaram, academic 160. Rima Kalita, MPhil Scholar, Department of History, NEHU 161. Rinchen Thakur, Project Staff, Endangered Archives Project ARCE-AIIS 162. Rintu Borah, Doctoral Candidate, IIT Bombay 163. Rohan D’ Souza, Associate Professor, Kyoto University 164. Rohini Mohan, independent journalist, Bangalore 165. Rohini Sen, Faculty, OP Jindal University 166. Rohit De, Assistant Professor, Yale University 167. Ronit Hazarika, MA Public Policy, OP Jindal Global University 168. Ruhee Neog, security and foreign policy analyst 169. Rukmini Chakraborty, Doctoral Student, Cornell University 170. Rukmini Sircar, National School of Drama 171. Saib Bilaval, PhD Student, Center for Historical Studies, JNU, and independent journalist 172. Saikat Datta, senior journalist 173. Saikat Majumdar, novelist 174. Saket Gokhale, political activist 175. Samina Mishra, filmmaker, Writer and Teacher 176. Samreen Farooqui, filmmaker 177. Samrat Choudhury, journalist and author 178. Samyak Ghosh, Doctoral Student, Columbia University 179. Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty, Deputy Editor, The Wire 180. Sanjay Kak, filmmaker 181. Sanjib Baruah, Professor of Political Studies, Bard College, New York 182. Santana Khanikar, Assistant Professor, JNU 183. Sanjoy Hazarika, writer and columnist 184. Sarah Hillaly, Professor, Rajiv Gandhi University 185. Satarupa Lahiri, PhD Researcher, Center for Historical Studies, JNU 186. Satya Prateek, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) 187. Sayani Basak, PhD Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) 188. Scindhia Siddharthan, Teacher, Rajghat Besant School, Varanasi 189. Shamya Dasgupta, journalist 190. Shanta Gokhale, Writer 191. Sharifa Choudhury, Advocate, Supreme Court 192. Sharmadip Basu, Azim Premji University 193. Shaunna Rodrigues, Ph.D. Candidate and Teaching Fellow, Columbia University in New York 194. Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Artist, Raqs Media Collective 195. Shyamal Chakma, Doctoral Candidate, SOAS, University of London 196. Smitana Saikia, Assistant Professor, FLAME University 197. Sohini Dutta, Doctoral Candidate, IIT Bombay 198. Siddharth Singh, development professional 199. Somjyoti Mridha, academic 200. Soumyadeep Guha, independent researcher 201. Sourv Patgiri, student. 202. Sreejith Murali, PhD Candidate IIT Bombay 203. Srijani Bhaswa Mahanta, Councillor, School of International Studies, JNU 204. Srivastan Manivannan, Research Fellow, Center for Human Rights, JGLS 205. Subasri Krishnan, filmmaker 206. Subir Bhaumik, senior journalist 207. Suchitra Vijayan, founder, The Polis Project 208. Sudhanva Deshpande, publisher 209. Suvir Kaul, A. M. Rosenthal Professor, University of Pennsylvania 210. Swagato Sarkar, Faculty, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy 211. Tanushree Bhowmik, senior development professional 212. Tanweer Fazal, academic 213. Tomujit Singha, activist and entrepreneur 214. Tridib Mukherjee, student 215. Tridib Nilim Dutta, journalist 216. Trishna Saikia, MA Development Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi 217. Uma Chakravarti, Feminist Historian 218. Umar Khalid, United Against Hate 219. Unalita Phukan, MPhil Candidate, University of Hyderabad 220. Vasundhara Jairath, Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati 221. Veronica Gregorio, Doctoral Candidate, National University of Singapore 222. Yasmin Saikia, Professor, Arizona State University 223. Yengkhom Jilangamba, Faculty, TISS, Guwahati