We, the undersigned, are students of Professor Nivedita Menon, a widely respected scholar and intellectual. She is widely published, from numerous books to journals and newspaper articles. Her work is a necessary reading in the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum nationally and internationally. Prof. Menon taught at the reputed Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, at the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi, and now teaches at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prof. Menon exhibits all of the qualities of a great teacher. She is a leading figure in the fields of Political Theory, Indian Politics and Women’s Studies. Her grasp of, and contribution to the cutting edge developments in her field have benefitted every batch of students who have been trained under her.

 

Her enthusiasm and skill as a teacher has inspired generations of students. Prof. Menon gave us the strength to think critically and rigorously about all that we read and everything we see in the world around us. Most importantly, she formed strong relationships with her students. She taught us to stand up for what we believed in. She inspires, influences and stands by us in our thoughts and actions, either directly or indirectly in every step we may take in life. To be her student has been a fact of pride and honor for us.

 

We are appalled that Prof. Menon is being hounded simply for doing her work as a teacher. In the recent events in JNU, Prof. Menon, along with some other leading intellectual minds of this country, came together to stand up for their own thoughts and to stand by their students. They stood by them for their right to think and express themselves in peaceful and productive ways - a common and ever-creative part of a holistic education. They stood by them as a shield for safety of bodies and minds. If this is not the work of a teacher, we don’t know what is.

 

She is now being attacked, vilified, threatened with derogatory language by individuals on the internet and worse by news channels that invade our living rooms 24/7. She is being called a range of names including ‘anti-national’. To term a committed teacher and intellectual, ‘anti-national’ for stating her opinion with care and conviction is an act that hits at the very core of the ethos of education, commitment to one’s profession and at the culture of democracy. It leaves us worried for this country and its future. It leaves us worried for all of us. These attacks have no reason or rationale and can be easily directed against anyone. We live in a world where there are very few teachers who can teach and inspire us to be better human beings. Those few teachers influence every life they touch in a fundamental way. We are who we are because of such teachers. We are who we are because of Prof. Menon. The baseless and defamatory attacks on her are an affront not just to her but to all of us.

 

We stand by our teacher and we urge all those who are witnessing the slander against her to not be swayed by the noise and the lies. Please pay heed to our voices, the future and present teachers, thinkers, professionals of this country. Listen to our anguished voices as we condemn these acts that grate at the fundamentals of this country, our democracy, critical thought and freedom. We know that this attack is not just about her but everything that she stands for: careful and rigorous thought, hard work, a commitment to the general good of society, justice, freedom and democracy. We, like our teacher, stand by these values. She taught us how to fight when these values are attacked. Her lessons will now bear fruit. We will stand by her and all the others who are being attacked for performing normal acts required of them as teachers, students, thinkers, researchers and activists till this assault on our democratic culture is quelled. We urge you to do the same.

 

Sd/

 

Aarti Sethi, LSR 2002, DU 2004, Columbia University.

Ankita Pandey , LSR 2003, JNU 2008, Oxford University

Anusha Hariharan , JNU 2009, University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill

Devaki Singh, LSR 2009, JNU, 2011

Debak Das, JNU 2014, Cornell University

Janaki Srinivasan, LSR 1998

Partha Pratim Shil, JNU 2008, PhD student, University of Cambridge.

Ponni Arasu,  LSR 2003, JNU 2005, University of Toronto.

Shipra Nigam, LSR2000.JNU.
Shubha Kamala Prasad, LSR 2009, JNU 2014, Georgetown University

Suchismita Chattopadhyay, LSR 2009, JNU

Sunalini Kumar, LSR 1998.