Guest Post by Architects from all over India and elsewhere

To: The JNU Teachers Association, JNU Students Union

CC: Vice Chancellor, JNU

We, the undersigned, are writing this 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.)

(In alphabetical order)

A.Srivathsan, Professor, CEPT University Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad

Abhishek Biswas, Industrial Designer, Goa

Ajas P Fasal, Architect, Trivandrum

Akshay Srinivas, Student, Delhi

Amit Rastogi, Team lead, CnT Architects, Bangalore

Amit Sarma

Associate Professor, Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Delhi

Amrita Dasgupta, Architect, New Delhi

Amrita Madan,Professor, New Delhi

Aneesh Babu, Architect, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Anisha, Architect, Delhi

Aparna V, Architect, Kochi, Kerala

Arsh, Architect, Delhi

Arun Jacob Mathew, Architect

Arun.S.R., Architect, Kerala

Arusree Mohanty Chhaya, Architect, Sweden

Ashish Byakod, Architect, Bangalore

Ashwini Kher, Assistant Professor, Gurgaon

Avni Mehta, Student, New Delhi

B S Bhooshan, Architect. Principal BSB Architects, Mysore

Bhawna Jaimini, Program Assistant, Hunnarshala Foundation, Bhuj, Gujarat

Boney Philip, Project Manager, Dubai

Debashree, Architect, Academician, Bangalore

Debasish Borah, Project director, Roots Collective, Ladakh, Leh

Deeksha, Architect, New Delhi

Deepak Kumar, Student, M. Arch (Urban Design), Delhi

Deepanshu Arneja, Architect, New Delhi

Deepu Ravi, Editor, Trivandrum

Divya Chopra, Architect, New Delhi

Dr Vibhuti Sachdev, Professor, Delhi

G Shankar, Chief, Habitat Technology Group, Thiruvanananthapuram

Ganga Dileep C, Architect, Assistant Professor, Trivandrum

Gaurav Roychoudhury, Architect, Bangalore

Girish Chandran, Lecturer, College of Architecture Trivandrum

Harshavardhan, Architect, Bangalore

Immanuel J Nicholas, Architect, Bangalore

Indu V, Junior Architect, Kerala

Ishan Pal, Student, Delhi

Ismet Khambatta, Director, Ahmedabad

Jaisim, Architect, Bangalore

Jaweed Darbar, Architect- Engineer, Bangalore

Jayaraj Sundaresan, Academic, Bangalore

Jinoj M., Assistant Professor, Trivandrum

Juhi Malpani, Architect-Town Planner, Delhi

Kamlesh Pohekar, Associate Professor, Bangalore

Kanchan Gupta, Architect & Planner, Mumbai

Kanishka Prasad, Architect, DESIGN Daftar, New Delhi

Karan Grover, Principal, Karan Grover & Associates. Baroda

Karthik K Shetty , Freelancer, Karnataka

Kiranjith CS, Assistant Professor, KMEA College of architecture, Kochi, kerala

Kshitij Dhyani, M.Arch, student, Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai, Delhi

Leon Morenas, Associate Professor of Architecture , Delhi

Madhav Raman, Partner, Anagram Architects, New Delhi

Mahesh Radhakrishnan, Principal Architect, Chennai

Manasi, Co founder, Partner. Bhoomija Creations, Trivandrum

Manish Ahuja, Architect, New Delhi

Manpreet Juneja, Architect, Delhi

Manu Mahajan, Urban Designer, Delhi

Maria Katticaran, Architect, Los Angeles

Maya Gomez, Architect, Trivandrum

Miki Desai, Architect, teacher, writer, Ahmedabad

Madhavi Desai, Architect, teacher, writer, Ahmedabad

Mona, Architect, Delhi

Monica Chaudhary , Architect, New Delhi

Mukta Naik, Visiting Faculty, School of Planning and Architecture, Gurgaon

Naveen Mahantesh, Principal Architect, Cresarc Architects, Bangalore

Neelkanth Chhaya, Architect, Ahmedabad

Nipesh, Architect, Delhi

Niveditaa Gupta, Architect and Photographer, New Delhi

Parul Choudhary, Co-Principal PS Collective, Ahmedabad

Prabir Haldar, Architect, New Delhi

Prahlad G, Architect, Ahmedabad

Pramod balakrishnan , Chief architect, Chennai

Prem Chandavarkar, Managing Partner, CnT Architects, Bangalore

Priyanka Purty, Architect, Jharkhand

Prof. Manoj Mathur, HoD, Architecture, SPA New Delhi, Delhi

Prof.Oommen.T, Architect, Trivandrum

Prosenjit Banerjee, Architect, New Delhi

Radhika Singh , Architect, New Delhi

Raja Shyam Sundar, Architect, Chennai

Rajshree Rajmohan , Architect & academician

Ratnakiran, architect, assistant professor , Vijayawada

Rita John, Assistant Professor of Architecture, USAP, Delhi, Delhi

Rojan Thomas Joseph, Architect, Bangalore

Ruchika Lall, Architect, Delhi

Rupali Gupte

Associate Professor, Founding Trustee, School of Environment and Architecture

Mumbai

Ruturaj Parikh, Director, Charles Correa Foundation, Goa

Ryan Christopher Sequeira, Fellow, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Delhi

Sahil Sasidharan, Associate – Academics & Research, IIHS, Bangalore/Bengaluru

Saiju Mohamed , Architect, Kerala

Samruddhi S Chaphale, Architect

Sanjana Mathur, Architect, New Delhi

Sara Ather, Architect, Delhi93

Sathyanarayan M, architect, Kerala

Satya Gopalan, Architect, Delhi

Saurabh Tewari, Research Scholar, Kanpur

Selva Prakash M, Assistant Professor, Tips Global Institute, Chennai

Shabeeb Khader, Project Architect, United States

Shaji TL, Professor, Trivandrum

Sharat Sunder R, Asst. Professor, Thiruvananthapuram

Shebin George, Architect, Thiruvananthapuram

Shikha Doogar, Partner,  R+D Studio, Gurgaon

Shitij Dogra, Architect, New delhi

Shobana, Assistant professor, Chennai

Shreyasi Pal, Asst. Prof, Bangalore

Shridhar Rao, Architect, Gurgaon

Shyamkumar P, Architect, Kanhangad

Shyne U,HOD, KMEA COA, Cochin

Sinu Rao, Architect, JUBAIL,KSA

Smriti, Asst. Professor, Delhi

Sobia, Consultant urban planner, Bengaluru

Sonal Sundararajan, Partner, ADRG, Mumbai

Soumini Raja, Asst. Professor, College of Architecture, Trivandrum

Soumya Shukla, Architect, Delhi

Sourabh Phadke, Architect, Himachal Pradesh

Sreejith.S, Landscape Architect, Thiruvananthapuram

SS Kiran, Urban Transport Planner, Nagpur

Subin Umar Rahman, Architect, Trivandrum

Surbhi Singhal, Architect, Delhi

Swati Janu, Architect, Delhi

Tallulah D Silva, Architect

Thomas Oommen, Associate Professor, Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Delhi

TM Cyriac, Architect, Trivandrum

Vaani Dua, Asst. Professor, Delhi

Vandini Mehta, Architect, New Delhi

Vanicka Arora, Conservation Architect, Gurgaon

Vidhu Saxena, Freelance Designer, New Delhi

Vishakha Jha, Architect, Urban Development Consultant, Mumbai

Vrinda Jariwala, Asst. Professor, S.S.A.A., Ansal University

Delhi

Zeenat Niazi , Vice President, Development Alternatives, New Delhi