Statement condemning the Suspension of Prof. Sudipta Bhattacharyya We, the undersigned are shocked at the arbitrary decision of the Executive Council of Viswa Bharati University to suspend Prof. Sudipta Bhattacharyya on flimsy grounds of 'circulating complaints’. This, prima facie, goes against the principle of natural justice and freedom of expression. Such an action also smacks of vengeful action from the University authorities particularly since Prof. Bhattacharyya, as an office-bearer of the faculty association, has been consistently raising questions about several irregularities in the University. Prof. Bhattacharyya has been widely cited for his work on agriculture and decentralization, and has been serving the university through long years of teaching and research. Such an action is a gross injustice to him as well as to the present and future students and researchers. This seems to be the latest example of how universities are increasingly being run in an authoritarian manner in this country. Universities as critical spaces of academic inquiry need to preserve the freedom of raising questions. Any curbing of these basic rights and freedoms amounts to dismantling the foundational principles of a University. It is indeed of great irony that a University inspired by the life and work of an internationally acclaimed poet like Rabindranath Tagore has chosen to revoke the right to ask questions. We appeal to the Visva Bharati authorities to revoke the suspension of Prof. Bhattacharyya and restore the democratic functioning of the University. Signatories SNo Name Position Affiliation 1 A K Hazra Economist Chamber of Commerce Malayalam University, Malappuram, 2 A P Sreeraj Assistant Professor Kerala 3 Aakash Shaw Assistant Professor Vivekananda College 4 Aarthi M Student University of Goettingen 5 Abha Dev Habib Assistant Professor Miranda House, University of Delhi 6 Abhijit Basu Citizen Countrymen 7 Abhijit Majumder Associate Professor IIT Bombay 8 Abhijit Mazumdar Teacher-in- English Siliguri College 9 Abhijit Mukhopadhyay Economist New Delhi 10 Abhijit Roy Professor Jadavpur University 11 Abhishek Chowdhury Assistant Professor Chakdaha College 12 Abhishek Chowdhury Assistant Professor Chakdaha College 13 Achin Vanaik Retried Professor, University of Delhi 14 Aditi Chowdhury Activist Citizen Researcher and 15 Aditya Sarkar Visiting Fellow Tufts University 16 Ajay Ranjan Singh Associate professor Kirori Mal college 17 Akansha Research scholar Mumbai university 18 Albeena Shakil Professor OPJGU Special Educator (Regd.No - A17916) & Executive Editor - Pratispardhi Barta 19 Amartyalok Banerjee (Disbalty Bengal) Rehabilitation Council of India ( RCI) 20 Ameet Parameswaran Assistant Professor JNU None. Resigned from emeritus 21 Amit Bhaduri Retired professor professorship at JNU Retired Professor of 22 Amit Bhattacharyya History Jadavpur University Retired scientist, CSIR-NPL, New 23 Amitabha Basu Delhi Retired scientist, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi University of Hyderabad, Alumnus of 24 Amitabha Das Gupta Retired Professor Visva Bharati 25 Amitabha sarkar Associate professor BAJKUL MILANI MAHAVIDYALAYA 26 Amitava Banerjee Retired Person Democracy 27 Amitava Banerjee PO PSACS 28 Amites Mukhopadhyay Professor Jadavpur University Mental Health 29 Amitranjan Basu In-Charge Shaheed Hospital Institute of Development Studies 30 Amiya Bagchi Emeritus Professor Kolkata Lecturer in Modern South Asian 31 Amogh Dhar Sharma Studies University of Oxford 32 Amrit Raj JNUSU - SAA Phd Scholar 33 Anamitra Roychowdhury Assistant Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University Women's rights 34 Anchita Ghatak activist Maitree Professor of Economics, Statistics, Finance and Agricultural University of Illinois at 35 Anil K. Bera Economics. Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) 36 Anindita Bhadra Associate Professor IISER Kolkata 37 Anindita Chakrabarti Teaching Fellow Leeds University Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath 38 Anindita Sengupta Associate Professor College Undergrad student 39 Anindya Mondal and activist. Jadavpur University 40 Anindya Sarkar Assistant Professor Tripura university 41 Anindya Sen UG Student Jadavpur University Professor of 42 Anirban Banerjee Sociology The University of Burdwan 43 ANIRBAN CHATTERJEE Assistant Professor Plassey College (University of Kalyani) 44 Anirban Dasgupta Associate Professor South Asian University 45 Anirban Roy Assistant Professor GGDC, Narayangar 46 Aniruddha Dutta Associate Professor University of Iowa Author and former 47 Anita Agnihotri Civil servant None 48 Anjana Mangalagiri Retired UNICEF 49 ANKANA DAS SACT II University of Calcutta Retired Professor of 50 ANUP KUMAR SINHA IIM Calcutta Chief Mentor Heritage Business School Associate Professor 51 Anup Maji in commerce Vu Department of economics, university of 52 Anupam Hazra Assistant professor kalyani 53 ANURADHA BANERJEE Data Analyst Service 54 ANURADHA BANERJEE Data Analyst Service Asst. Professor of 55 Anurag Mohanty Economics Rajdhani College Bhubaneswar University of Illinois at 56 Anustup Basu Associate Professor Urbana-Champaign. Postdoctoral 57 Anwesha Mukherjee researcher Technical University Munich (Germany) 58 Aparajay Research Associate IIT Tirupati Associate Professor 59 Aparna Bandyopadhyay of History Diamond Harbour Women's University 60 Aparna Chaudhuri Assistant Professor Ashoka University 61 Archana Prasad Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University 62 Archishman Biswas Student University of Delhi 63 Argha Banerjee Asst Prof IISER Pune 64 Arijit Biswas student fasibad nipat jak SRIKRISHNA COLLEGE, KALYANI 65 ARIJIT CHOWDHURY Assistant Professor UNIVERSITY 66 Arindam Banerjee Associate Professor Ambedkar University Delhi 67 Arindam Das Professor The University of Burdwan 68 Aritra Basu PhD Student McGill University Revoke the 69 Aritra Ganguli suspension Revoke the suspension Arkaprava Indian Institute of Technology, 70 Mukhopadhyay Ph.D. Scholar Kharagpur Research Scholar, 71 Arkaprava Sengupta M.Phil Rabindra Bharati University Professor of 72 Arnab Bhattacharjee Economics Heriot-Watt University ASSISTANT 73 ARNAB CHATTERJEE PROFESSOR ASANSOL GIRLS' COLLEGE Those is not right desicion against Prof. MA in Sudipta sir. Its should be investigation Bengali,Visva-Bhar and court order.its against of indian 74 ARNAB NAYAK ati,Santiniketan constitution. 75 Arnab Poddar Research Scholar IIT kharagpur 76 Arnab Sadhu Assistant Professor Vidyasagar University 77 Arnsb Bhattacharyya Assistant Professor S.N.I Mahavidyalaya 78 Arpan Human Being To Justice 79 Arpita Biswas PhD Student University of Massachusetts, Amherst Kishore Bharati Bhagini Nivedita 80 Arpita Sengupta Sadhu Assistant Professor College 81 Arunabha Adhikari Associate Professor West Bengal State University 82 Arunesh Sangama Lgbtqi work Professor of 83 Arup Chattopadhyay Economics University of Burdwan BANGABASI MORNING COLLEGE ASSISTANT (AFFILIATED TO UNIVERSITY OF 84 ARUP DEBNATH PROFESSOR CALCUTTA) 85 Arup Majumdar Social activist People of India Ashim Kumar 86 Bhattacharya Conscious public Green peace activist 87 Ashish Ghosh Retired teacher Dyal Singh College, New Delhi Independent 88 Ashley Tellis scholar and activist The world 89 Asijit Datta Asst Prof The Heritage College 90 Atulan Guha Associate Professor IIM Kashipur 91 Avijit Kundu Research Scholar IISER Kolkata 92 Avinash Godbole Assistant professor JGU 93 Avinash Kumar Faculty Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 94 Ayan Banerjee Professor IISER Kolkata 95 Ayan Das M.Phil scholar University of Calcutta 96 Ayesha Kidwai Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University Working 97 Ayush Mallik Professional Mentored through his writings 98 Azra Saman PhD scholar Jamia Millia Islamia 99 B. S. Butola Professor J. N. U. & S. P. A. 100 Baidik Bhattacharya Associate Professor CSDS Independent academic and 101 Bela Bhatia lawyer None 102 Benjamin Reuben Prospective Pathri Methodist Church in India Retured headmistress of 103 Bharati Talukder secondary school Pensioner 104 BHASKAR GOSWAMI Associate Professor University of Burdwan Retired Associate 105 Bhaswati Chakrabarti Professor Retired 106 Bhaswati Chatterjee Associate Professor Vidyasagar College Associate Professor Durham University Business School, 107 Bibhas Saha of Economics UK 108 Bihan Banerjee Research Scholar TIFR, Mumbai Lalit Narayan Mithila University, 109 Binay Kumar Pathak Assistant Professor Darbhanga 110 Biplab Bandyopadhy Artist Theatre 111 Biplab Banerjee G.L.I Bankura University 112 Biplab Majhi Assistant Professor SKBU Professor in theatre and performance 113 Bishnupriya Dutt studies. JNU 114 Biswansth Ganguli None. Retired. None. Retired 115 Braja Gopal Bag Professor Vidyasagar University 116 Bratati Chowdhury Assistant Professor Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya 117 Brinda Bose Associate Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University 118 Bulu Gupta Musician none 119 Byasdeb Dasgupta Professor University of Kalyani Professor (Retd), 120 C. P. Chandrasekhar JNU JNU Retd. Private 121 C. S. Bhatta employew None Post graduate 122 Chaiti Nath student Visva Bharati 123 Chander Prabha Reader(Retd.) D.T.F. Chandranath Retired Associate Retired Associate Prof. of Physics, 124 Bandyopadhyay Prof. MUC Womens'College, Burdwan 125 Chirashree Das Gupta Associate Professor JNU 126 chitra joshi historian independent 127 Daminee Basu Actor Indian Film Industry 128 Dattatreya Citizen Human PhD Reserch 129 Dawa Sherpa Scholar CESP SSS JNU 130 Debabrata Assistant Professor JNU 131 Debabrata Roy Assistant Professor University of Kalyani 132 Debadatta Mazumder Research scholar WBSU 133 Debaditya Bhattacharya Faculty