TCN News
Students of University of Delhi’s Prof Hany Babu MT have issued an open statement sending birthday wishes and expressing solidarity with their professor as he turned 54 on August 16.
Prof Hany Babu MT from the Department of English in the University of Delhi was arrested as a part of the witch hunt of activists on July 28 by the NIA, continuing with the ongoing harassment of academics and activists who have been vocal against the government and its policies. The statement has shared a culmination of letters, responses and emotional notes from his students that have been selected to be published through a social media account on Instagram by the name ‘@withhanybabu’.
“This act of suppressing dissenting voices in academic spaces by the State threatens the very fabric of the Indian democracy,” the letter echoes. It discusses that the revered Prof of English who turned 54 while in police custody, has been “a strong advocate for social justice, and has worked strenuously in the anti-caste movement.” It praises his credentials as a professor of linguistics, highlighting that “his classes have always been about demanding equal space for the varying languages in India.” He looks at English as “an emancipatory language” and “his teachings have made, and continue to make students critically approach caste supremacy hidden within the rubric of the Indian language structure,” the statement resonates.
While some students wrote about the popularity of his classes, which they would attend in large numbers, even though attendance was not compulsory, others have written about the exposure to the contemporary and its problems that they have gained from their classes. There were also wishes from students, who despite not being students of Prof. Babu shared the grief and anger at the present situation. Many students have written about the extra effort and dedication he has shown both in his teaching and in helping them in solving their day to daily issues. Additionally, a total of over 250 mails of students recounting their personal experiences as students of Prof Babu have also been received by the collective.
The statement has further underlined that “eleven activists/scholars have already been arrested in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case and nine out of these have been in jail for nearly two years, as undertrials.” The students of Prof Hany Babu have therefore taken this statement as a way of expressing their anger, stating that it should be a sad day for the country and everyone who has been a student should be concerned that “a brilliant academic, a morally upright and an innocent man is spending this day alone in custody.”
Under these circumstances, the students have requested the readers to endorse, publish and share it widely so that everyone knows about the State-backed witch hunt of human rights activists and scholars who voice dissent against the ruling BJP party’s Hindutva ideology.
The statement has come from a collective (https://www.instagram.com/withhanybabu/?igshid=isfdrbhj6ekh) composed of his present and former students who have put out a call to students to send in birthday wishes and thereby express their solidarity with their professor. The responses shared through the collective, the statement says, presents “an understanding of Prof Hany Babu’s persona as a gentle, compassionate professor who not only taught his students about the exclusive nature of universities in India but also created an inclusive environment in an attempt to open the university spaces for all.”
Demanding his immediate release, the statement concludes, “We strongly believe that a teacher, mentor and activist like Hany Babu is an integral asset to the university space and his absence only ensures the further marginalization of students from marginalized communities.”