Reportedly the growing number of students and citizens joining the India-wide protests against the citizenship amendment act have now received support all the way from Harvard University. Meanwhile the university’s students and affiliates have written an open letter to the indian government dated december 16, condemning the “violent suppression of the student protesters” at Jamia Millia Islamia in delhi, Aligarh Muslim university and other places and they have also called the caa a “deeply regrettable act of legislation”.
Perhaps stressing that protest and dissent are inherent to democracy, the letter says that even though they are disruptive and inconvenient, they are important to sustain the secular and democratic fabric of the country. The letter says “The violent suppression of protesters by the police, the use of teargas, lathi charges, and physical assault in response to peaceful dissent, and the police forces’ forceful entry into university campuses and consequent Internet blockades there are all deeply reprehensible,” signed by 120 students and affiliates of Harvard at the time of writing.
Moreover echoing a popular criticism of the caa, the signatories also say that the law is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution which enshrines equal protection for all citizens. Apparently the Harvard university students and affiliates who signed the letter expressed solidarity with the “students and other patriotic citizens of India” who have strongly dissented to and opposed the Act.
