We, the undersigned, are writing in utmost shock and despair regarding the recent events and developments at your campus. We want to extend our full support to the JNU teachers association and the democratically elected JNU Student Union. We believe there is a difference between the nation, the state and the government of the day, and fully support your constitutional right to air your positions, as different or diverse as they may be, without illegal interference from any particular ruling ideology, party or state machinery.
As those engaged in architecture, we believe that imagination and reason are the highest of human faculties. This gift is what we constantly cultivate and rely on – in academia and in practice – when we question what exists, however natural, fixed and irreplaceable it may seem, and fearlessly posit alternatives. Indeed, there is little difference for us between possessing a moral imagination and being able to imagine such alternate worlds and other ways of being.
The inability therefore to envision life in another’s shoes, to disagree and to counter ideas with more aesthetic or eloquent ones without resorting to character assassination, violence and charges of anti-nationalism, betray to us an alarming lack of imagination, and we strongly condemn this in all its forms.
We condemn this absence of imagination and the physical and epistemic violence it has unleashed on the university community especially teachers and students. We stand with you in support of the university as a marketplace of ideas where all ideas and opinions are passionately argued, ripped apart, defended and critically re-imagined in ever new ways, leading to a more enlightened citizenry. This must be allowed to happen without fear or favor, risk of persecution or charges of sedition. If nothing else, the imagination of our founding fathers demands it, and we are in solidarity with your right to exercise it.
(This statement represents us in our individual capacities and not the institutions we are associated with.)
[su_spoiler title=”Signatories” icon=”arrow”]1 A. Srivathsan, Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad 2 Abhishek Biswas, Industrial Designer, Goa 3 Ajas P Fasal, Architect, Trivandrum 4 Akshay Srinivas, Delhi 5 Amit Rastogi, Team Lead, CnT Architects, Bangalore 6 Amit Sarma, Associate Professor, Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Delhi 7 Amrita Dasgupta , Architect, New Delhi 8 Amrita Madan, Professor, New Delhi 9 Aneesh Babu, Architect Dubai, United Arab Emirates 10 Anisha, Architect, Delhi 11 Aparna V, Architect, Kochi, Kerala 12 Arsh , Architect, Delhi 13 Arun Jacob Mathew, Architect 14 Arun.S.R., Architect, Kerala 15 Arusree Mohanty Chhaya, Architect, Sweden 16 Ashish Byakod, Architect, Bangalore 17 Ashwini Kher, Assistant Professor, Gurgaon 18 Avni Mehta, Architecture Student, New Delhi 19 B S Bhooshan, Architect, Principal BSB Architects, Mysore 20 Bhawna Jaimini, Program Assistant, Hunnarshala Foundation, Bhuj, Gujarat 21 Boney Philip, Project Manager , Dubai 22 Debashree, Architect, Academician, Bangalore 23 Debasish Borah, Project director, Roots Collective, Ladakh, Leh 24 Deeksha, Architect, New Delhi 25 Deepak Kumar, M. Arch (Urban Design)Student, Delhi 26 Deepanshu Arneja, Architect, New Delhi 27 Deepu Ravi, Editor, Trivandrum 28 Divya Chopra, Architect, New Delhi 29 Dr Vibhuti Sachdev, Professor, Delhi 30 G Shankar, Chief, Habitat Technology Group, Thiruvanananthapuram 31 Ganga Dileep C, Architect, Assistant Professor, Trivandrum 32 Gaurav Roychoudhury, Architect, Bangalore 33 Girish Chandran , Lecturer, College of Architecture, Trivandrum 34 Harshavardhan, Architect, Bangalore 35 Immanuel J Nicholas, Architect, Bangalore 36 Indu V, Junior Architect, Kerala 37 Ishan Pal, Architecture Student, Delhi 38 Ismet Khambatta, Director, Ahmedabad 39 Jaisim, Architect, Bangalore 40 Jaweed Darbar, Architect- Engineer, Bangalore 41 Jayaraj Sundaresan, Academic, Bangalore 42 Jinoj M., Assistant Professor, Trivandrum 43 Juhi Malpani, Architect-Town Planner, Delhi 44 Kamlesh Pohekar, Associate Professor, Bangalore 45 Kanchan Gupta, Architect & Planner, Mumbai 46 Kanishka Prasad, Architect, DESIGN Daftar, New Delhi 47 Karan Grover, Principal, Karan Grover & Associates, Baroda 48 Karthik K Shetty , Freelancer, Karnataka 49 Kiranjith CS, Assistant Professor, KMEA College of architecture, Kochi, Kerala 50 Kshitij Dhyani, M.Arch, student, Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai, Delhi 51 Leon Morenas, Associate Professor of Architecture, Delhi 52 Madhav Raman Partner, Anagram Architects, New Delhi 53 Mahesh Radhakrishnan, Principal Architect , Chennai 54 Manasi Co founder, Partner, Bhoomija Creations, Trivandrum 55 Manish Ahuja, Architect, New Delhi 56 Manpreet Juneja, Architect, Delhi 57 Manu Mahajan, Urban Designer, Delhi 58 Maria Katticaran, Architect, Los Angeles 59 Maya Gomez, Architect, Trivandrum 60 Miki Desai, Architect, teacher, writer, Ahmedabad 61 Madhavi Desai Architect, teacher, writer, Ahmedabad 62 Mona Jazi, Architect, Delhi 63 Monica Chaudhary , Architect, New Delhi 64 Mukta Naik, Visiting Faculty, School of Planning and Architecture, Gurgaon 65 Naveen Mahantesh, Principal Architect, Cresarc Architects, Bangalore 66 Neelkanth Chhaya, Architect, Ahmedabad 67 Nipesh Narayanan, Architect, Delhi 68 Niveditaa Gupta, Architect and Photographer, New Delhi 69 Parul Choudhary, Co-Principal PS Collective, Ahmedabad 70 Prabir Haldar, Architect, New Delhi 71 Prahlad G, Architect, Ahmedabad 72 Pramod balakrishnan , Chief architect , Chennai 73 Prem Chandavarkar, Managing Partner, CnT Architects, Bangalore 74 Priyanka Purty, Architect, Jharkhand 75 Prof. Manoj Mathur, HoD, Architecture, SPA New Delhi 76 Prof.Oommen.T , Architect, Trivandrum 77 Prosenjit Banerjee, Architect, New Delhi 78 Radhika Singh , Architect, New Delhi 79 Raja Shyam Sundar, Architect, Chennai 80 Rajshree Rajmohan , Architect & academician, Trivandrum 81 Ratnakiran, Architect, Assistant Professor , Vijayawada 82 Rita John, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Delhi 83 Rojan Thomas Joseph, Architect, Bangalore 84 Ruchika Lall, Architect, Delhi 85 Rupali Gupte, Associate Professor, Founding Trustee, School of Environment and Architecture Mumbai 86 Ruturaj Parikh, Director, Charles Correa Foundation, Goa 87 Ryan Christopher Sequeira, Fellow, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Delhi 88 Sahil Sasidharan, Associate – Academics & Research, IIHS, Bangalore 89 Saiju Mohamed , Architect, Kerala 90 Samruddhi S Chaphale, Architect 91 Sanjana Mathur , Architect, New Delhi 92 Sara Ather, Architect, Delhi 93 Sathyanarayan M, Architect, Kerala 94 Satya Gopalan, Architect, Delhi 95 Saurabh Tewari, Research Scholar, Kanpur 96 Selva Prakash M, Assistant Professor, Tips Global Institute , Chennai 97 Shabeeb Khader, Project Architect, United States 98 Shaji TL, Professor, Trivandrum 99 Sharat Sunder R, Asst. Professor, Thiruvananthapuram 100 Shebin George, Architect, Thiruvananthapuram 101 Shikha Doogar, Partner, R+D Studio, Gurgaon 102 Shitij Dogra, Architect , New delhi 103 Shobana, Assistant Professor, Chennai 104 Shreyasi Pal, Asst. Professor, Bangalore 105 Shridhar Rao, Architect, Gurgaon 106 Shyamkumar P, Architect, Kanhangad 107 Shyne U, HoD, KMEA COA, Cochin 108 Sinu Rao, Architect, JUBAIL,KSA 109 Smriti, Asst. Professor , Delhi 110 Sobia , Consultant urban planner, Bengaluru 111 Sonal Sundararajan, Partner, ADRG, Mumbai 112 Soumini Raja, Asst. Professor, College of Architecture Trivandrum 113 Soumya Shukla , Architect , Delhi 114 Sourabh Phadke, Architect, Himachal Pradesh 115 Sreejith.S, Landscape Architect, Thiruvananthapuram 116 SS Kiran , Urban Transport Planner, Nagpur 117 Subin Umar Rahman, Architect, Trivandrum 118 Surbhi Singhal, Architect, Delhi 119 Swati Janu, Architect, Delhi 120 Tallulah D Silva, Architect 121 Thomas Oommen, Associate Professor, Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Delhi 122 TM Cyriac, Architect , Trivandrum 123 Vaani Dua, Asst. Professor, Delhi 124 Vandini Mehta, Architect, New Delhi 125 Vanicka Arora, Conservation Architect, Gurgaon 126 Vidhu Saxena, Freelance Designer, New Delhi 127 Vishakha Jha, Architect, Urban Development Consultant Mumbai 128 Vrinda Jariwala, Asst. Professor, S.S.A.A., Ansal University, Delhi 129 Zeenat Niazi , Vice President, Development Alternatives, New Delhi[/su_spoiler]
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