The entire statement and list of signatures may be viewed here

1. The entire statement and list of signatures may be viewed here:
We, the undersigned, support unequivocally the recent interview given by author and poet, Javed
Akhtar to the media in the context of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. We strongly
condemn attempts to intimidate him and affirm his right to speak his views. We strongly
disagree with those in the sangh parivar, led by a BJP MLA and other elements from the same
wider parivar who have objected to the understanding of right wing supremacists, be it of the
Muslim or Hindu kind.
In an interview to NDTV news channel, Javed Akhtar spoke with clarity and passion. We agree
with his statement that irrespective of the religion in whose name they claim to speak, right-
wingers -- be they Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christians -- share a common majoritarian world-
view. This is particularly evident when it comes to their views on the status of women in the
family and in society. The Taliban are but an extreme and violent version of the same common
fundamentalist mind-set. It is not for nothing that many in recent years have referred to violent
elements from the sangh parivar as the ‘Hindu Taliban’.
It is not insignificant that around the same time as the venal reactions to the interview by Javed
Akhtar, sections of the Muslim community who have raised similar objections to recent
comments by actor Naseeruddin Shah. In his video clip which went viral, Shah is specifically
addressing the Indian Muslim community where he is warning Muslim compatriots against rigid
forms of Islam, advising an espousal of modernity. Shah is only re-iterating the long, vibrant and
tolerant tradition of Indian Islam that has been in recent decades afflicted by the Saudi-exported
Wahhabi Islam, a trend that large sections of Indian Muslims recognise and also deplore.
Signatories:
1. Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC
2. Abdul Malik Social Activate Delhi
3. Abdul Kader, Social Activist
4. Abdul Warasi Businessman Bharuch Gujarat
5. Abhishek Majumdar
6. Adil Husain Amin, Bihar
7. Aditi Chowdhury
8. Aftab Khan, Journalist, Nasik
9. Afzaal Faruqui, Businessman, Sahaswan, Budaun
10. A.J. Jawad, Advocate, Chennai
11. Akshay Batane, Social Activist, Latur
12. Ajit Pandit
13. Amir Rizvi, Designer, Mumbai
14. Anand Patwardhan, Documentary Film Maker, Mumbai
15. Anil Chandra
16. Anjum Rajabali, film writer
17. Anubha Rastogi, Lawyer, Mumbai
18. Arshad Alam, Academic/Researcher, Delhi
19. Aruna Gnanadason
20. Anuradha Kapur
21. Apeksha Vora

2. 22. Ashok Maridas
23. Askari Zaidi, Writer
24. Atul Tiwari, Writer
25. Aquila Khan- Filmmaker
26. Aadya Pandey
27. Aawaaz-Niswaan (Organisation)
28. Ashhar Khan- Jaunpur
29. Aadhavan Dheetchanya, Tamil Writer
30. Aasha Ramesh Activist & Researcher
31. Ali Ahmed
32. Alisha Rajput, Fashion Designer, Delhi
33. Alok verma
34. Amita joseph
35. Amitadyuti Kumar
36. Amjad Shaikh Social Activates Solapur Maharastra
37. Ammu Joseph
38. Amulya D’Souza
39. Anas Chaudhry, Social Worker and Businessman, Sahaswan, Budaun
40. Anees Ahmed, Teacher
41. Anil Patil, Social Activist, Sangli
42. Anil K Singh
43. Anil Sadgopal
44. Anis Ahmad, Social Activist, Mumbai
45. Anjum mulani farmer indapur
46. Anne prabhu
47. Annie Raja
48. Ansar Faruqui, Social Worker, Sahaswan, Budaun
49. Anwar Khan
50. Anwar Shaikh, Social Activist, Bihar
51. Aoutade Aappa, Social Activist, Aurangabad
52. Arshad Jamal Ex Chairman Mau
53. Arif Kapadia
54. Arshi Siddiqui, Social Activist, Gujarat
55. Arshiya Sethi
56. Aruna Burte
57. Aruna Rodrigues Environmentalist
58. Ashiq, Civil Engineer, Bihar
59. Ashish Kothari
60. Ashiqa
61. (Dr.) Asokan Mundon
62. Ayesha Rajput, Social Activist
63. Azad
64. Azam Khan
65. Aqil Ahmed, Advocate, Prayagraj (Allahabad)
66. B T Venkatesh, Senior Advocate, Karnataka
67. Bebaak collective (Organisation)
68. Benson
69. Brinelle D'souza, Academic and Activist
70. Bader sayeed

3. 71. Bernadette Devaraj
72. Bharti Ali
73. (Dr.) Bobby Luthra Sinha
74. Brij Tankha former Prof. Delhi Univ
75. Bhagat Sahdev, Social Activist, Pune
76. Bhandare Patil Vaibhav, Social Activist, Hingoli
77. Bhoite Manoj, Social Activist, Pandharpur
78. Burade Shiv Rudra, Social Activist, Beed
79. Cavery Bopaiah
80. Cedric Prakash, Jesuit and Civil Rights Activist
81. Charu Soni, Independent journalist
82. Cheriyan Alexander
83. Chayanika Shah
84. Chirashree Das Gupta
85. Chitra Ugale, Social Activist, Nashik
86. Chitra Palekar, Writer, film maker, Mumbai
87. Choudhary Ravindra, Social Activist, Jalgaon
88. Cyrus Guzder, Philanthropist and Civil Rights Activist
89. C B Choudhary
90. C. Rammanohar Reddy
91. Cynthia Stephen
92. Dalvi Mahesh, Social Activist, Miraj
93. Danish Akhtar, Deoria
94. Danish Husain
95. Danish Saifi, Social Activist
96. David D'Costa
97. Deepika D'Souza
98. Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) (Organisation)
99. Deepika Tandon
100. Deshmukh Baburao, Social Activist, Yavatmal
101. Desai Ganesh, Social Activist, Miraj
102. Dhande Patil Yograj, Social Activist, Pune
103. Dhiraj Bose
104. Dibakar Purkayastha, author
105. Dilip Gaikwad, Social Activist, Sangli
106. Dinesh Abrol, Professor ISID (retd), Chief Scientist CSIR-NISTADS (retd)
107. Dipak Malik, Prof. (retd), Varanasi
108. Dolly Thakote, Theatre Practioneer
109. Enakshi Ganguly
110. Enaya Anwar
111. Farhat
112. Farhan Rahman, Research Scholar, Ranchi
113. Farzana Behram Contractor
114. Fatima Babu
115. Francis Colaso
116. Frazer Mascarenhas
117. Feroze Mithiborwala, National Convener, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Mumbai
118. Forum Against Oppression of Women (Organisation)
119. Fardeen Khan, Social worker, Social Media Influencer

4. 120. Farheen, Social Activist
121. Faiyaz Inamdar, Social Activist, Pune
122. Farman Idris, Student, Jamiya Millia, Delhi
123. Farooq, Advocate, Chattisgarh
124. Fatima Khatoon, Teacher, Gorakhpur
125. Fazil Chaudhry, Social Worker, Businessman, Sahaswan, Budaun
126. Fouzia Shaikh, Social Activist, Aurangabad
127. (Dr.) Gabriele Dietrich
128. Gautam Bhattacharya
129. Geeta Kapur, Art Historian and critique
130. Ghulam Mohiyuddin Faruki (New York)
131. Gulobi
132. Geeta Seshu, Co-editor, Free Speech Collective
133. Ghulam Moyiuddin Faruki, New York
134. Gurumoorthy
135. Gafur Sayyad, Social Activist, Indapur
136. Gaikar Uttam, Social Activist, Nashik
137. Gaikwad Ganesh, Social Activist, Ahmednagar
138. Gajanan Ware Patil, Social Activist, Hingoli
139. Ghodke Yash, Social Activist, Latur
140. Gulzar, Social Activist
141. Ganesh Desai, Social Activist, Miraj
142. Hasan Pathan, Aurangabad
143. H. C. Satyarthi
144. Hasina Khan, Feminist
145. Harsh Kapoor, Independent Researcher, Delhi
146. Hartman de Souza, Writer and Teacher
147. Hindal Tyabji
148. Harini
149. Harjinder Sangra, Educator,.Canada
150. Helen menezes
151. Henri Tiphagne
152. Human Rights Defnders' Alert - India (HRDA- India)
153. Idris Kazi, Social Activist, Paranda
154. Imran Punekar, Social Activist, Sangli
155. Irfan Shaikh, Social Activist, UAE
156. Irfan Ziya, Engineer, UAE
157. Ismail Shaikh, Social Activist, Latur
158. Imran Khan, Independent Theatre Artist
159. Indira Chandrasekhar, Publisher and Activist
160. Irfan Engineer, Director, Centre for the Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai
161. Irfan Khan
162. indu prakash singh
163. J.S. Bandukwala, Professor of Physics (retd), Vadodara
164. Javed Anand, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy, Mumbai
165. John Dayal, Author and Activist
166. Jyoti Punwani, Freelance Journalist Mumbai
167. Jag Narayan Mahto

5. 168. jamsheed rizwani
169. Jaya Mehta, Economist
170. K. M. Shrimali, Professor of History (retd), University of Delhi
171. Kasim Sait, Businessman, Philanthropist, Chennai
172. Kavitha Lankesh, Filmmaker
173. Keval Arora
174. Kirti Singh, Lawyer and Womens Rights Activist
175. Kumar Samatahala
176. Kamal Gopinath
177. Kamal Khan, Social Activist, Bihar
178. Kamini Tankha
179. Kamran, Social Activist, Lucknow
180. Kamran Kadri, Social Activist, Moradabad
181. Kamran Mulla, Social Activist, Aurangabad
182. Karen Gabriel
183. Kavita Srivastava
184. Keerthishree Nayak
185. Kesari Haravoo
186. Khalid Anwar, Businessman, Gorakhpur
187. Khaleda Parveen, Women’s NGO, Hyderabad
188. Kirtiwan Morat
189. Krishna Mohan
190. Kumari Seema
191. Lalita Ramdas, Peace Activist
192. Lyndon Saldanha
193. Londhe Patil Pawan, Social Activist, Nanded
194. Lakshmi krishnamurty
195. Lara Jesani, Advocate and Civil Rights Activist
196. M.K.Raina
197. Madangopal Singh
198. Madhu Prasad, Professor (retd), Delhi University
199. Madhusree Dutta
200. Mansoor Sardar, Bhiwandi
201. Masooma Ranalvi, Co-Founder, India Lead,WeSpeakOut, Delhi
202. Mazhar Mehdi (Prof, JNU, New Delhi)
203. (Dr.) Medha Purao Samant
204. Meera Dewan, Filmmaker
205. Mohammed Imran, Lucknow
206. (Prof) Mohammad Sajjad Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)
207. (Prof.) Mohan Rao
208. Mukhtar Khan, Mumbai
209. Mukta Srivastava
210. Mumtaz Shaikh
211. Muniza Khan, Gandhian Institute, Academic & Activist, Varanasi
212. Madanlalhind
213. Mouniza khan
214. Madhu Bhushan
215. Maimoona Mollah
216. Manjula Khemani

6. 217. Maya Krishna Rao
218. Mithun kumar vegetable vednor
219. Mithun kumar, a vegetable vendor
220. Mohammad Shareef Ansari from Varanasi utter Pradesh India
221. Mukta Srivastava
222. Mumtaj
223. murade.rahul95@gmail.com
224. Mahajan Kailash, Social Activist, Jalgaon
225. Mahnaaz, Teacher, Gorakhpur
226. Marane Rakesh, Social Activist, Pune
227. Masoom Kaifi, Social Activist
228. Meraj Husain, Political Activist, Gorakhpur
229. (Dr.) Meraj Hussain, Delhi
230. Meraj Shaikh, Engineer, Latur
231. Mohammad Bhai, Social Activist, Mumbai
232. Mohammad Faheem, Consultant @ LIC, Social worker, Sahaswan Budaun
233. Mo. Harjul, Worker, Patna
234. Mo. Nadim Shaikh, Agriculturist, Begusarai
235. More Eknath, Social Activist, Parbhani
236. More Patil Sachin, Social Activist, Aurangabad
237. Mohsin Nadaf, Social Activist, Nanded
238. Mughees chaudhry, Sahaswan, Budaun
239. Moinuddin Shaikh, Social Activist, Latur
240. Munna Shaikh, Social Activist, Latur
241. Muskan, Actor
242. Mushtak Malarana, Social Activist, Rajasthan
243. NS Shankar
244. Najid Hussain, USA
245. Nandan Maluste, entrepreuner and civil rights activist
246. Nagaragere Ramesh
247. Nasir Tyabji, formerly with Jamia Millia Islamia
248. Najma mulani solapur
249. Nalini Nayak
250. Nandita Narain
251. Navroze Contractor (Cinematographer/writer)
252. Nizam shaikh
253. Noor Delvi
254. Narayan Temghare, Social Activist, Bhiwandi
255. Nargis Bano, Student, Tejpur
256. Nimbalkar Dhananjay, Social Activist, Navi Mumbai
257. Nitin Sherkar, Teacher, Latur
258. Nahida Asiya, Student, Satara
259. Nadeem Shaikh, Social Activist, Bihar
260. Nadeem Akhtar, Social Activist
261. Nadira Anjum, Social Activist, Bihar
262. Naeem Kazi, Social Activist
263. P A Azeez

7. 264. P.K.Shukla
265. Pamela Philipose, Senior Journalist
266. Parcham Collective
267. Parthiv Shah, photographer
268. Peggy Devaraj
269. Persis Ginwalla
270. Pradeep
271. Pradeep E, Bangalore
272. Premachandra U
273. Priyanka
274. Prabhat Patnaik, Prof Emeritus, JNU
275. Padma Velaskar
276. Pallabi Chakravorty
277. pankaj
278. Prafulla Samantara
279. Pragya Akhilesh, Trade Unionist, National Convenor RRI India
280. PREETA SHIVDEV SINGH
281. Prem Kumar Vijayan
282. Prof. Rajakrishnan
283. Prof.Mohan Rao
284. Prof.Panditaradhya
285. Prof.Panditaradhya Prof of Kannada (Retd)University of Mysore
286. Pulin B Nayak
287. Parveen Shaikh, Social Activist, Gujarat
288. Parvez Alam Qureshi, Social Worker & Businessman, Sahaswan Budaun
289. Pawar Mahesh, Social Activist, Jalgaon
290. Qamarjahan, Lucknow (Prof. retd)
291. Dr. Qaiser Shamim, Delhi
292. Qurban Ali, Senior Journalist, Delhi
293. Qadir Khan, Social Activist
294. Qutb Kidwai, Social Activist, Mumbai
295. (Dr) Ram Puniyani, Author, Social Activist
296. R.B.Sreekumar, former DGP, Gujarat
297. R Manohar
298. Rajinder Arora
299. (Dr.) Ranjani Krishnan
300. Ram Rahman, Photographer
301. Ramachandran
302. Ramesh Dixit. social activist and academician. Lucknow
303. Razia Patel, Academic-Social Activist, Pune
304. Romar Correa
305. Rosey
306. Rudrashish Chakraborty
307. Rachana Bhandari Kapoor
308. Rachna Dikshit-Indian Citizen
309. Rajan Kshirsagar
310. Ramesh Dixit. social activist and academician. Lucknow
311. Rana Partap Behal
312. Rani Day, Filmmaker
313. Raphael D'Souza, Advocate

8. 314. RatiRao E.
315. Ravindraprakash Y.J.
316. Reeteka Sud, Neuroscientist
317. Reyaz Ahmad
318. Rijwan Malik Social activate Mirzapur UP
319. Ritu Sinha
320. Roop Rekha Verma
321. Roopa
322. Roopa
323. Roopa
324. Rupa Abdi
325. Rupinder Sayal
326. Raghib Rahi, Teacher, Purnea
327. Rahman Mulani, Beed
328. Ramchandra Anna Revaskar, Pune
329. Ramrao Nafade, Social Activist, Mumbai
330. Rasheed Chaudhary, Interior Designer, Delhi
331. Rizwan, Social Activist, Kushinagar
332. Rukhsar, Social Activist, Delhi
333. Rukhsar Shaikh, Social Activist, Parbhani
334. (Dr.) S Faizi
335. S.V. Raghurama Rao, Professor
336. Sabah Khan, Parcham, Mumbai
337. (Dr). Sabiha Alam, Academic, Delhi
338. Sachin Chavan
339. Salim Yusuf, Lawyer-teacher, Bhiwandi
340. Sandhya Panaskar, Activist
341. Sayed Riyaz Raheem, Poet, Mumbai
342. Saurobijay Sarkar
343. Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, New Delhi
344. Shakeel Azmi, Poet
345. Shalini Dhawan, Designer, Mumbai
346. (Dr) Shahnawaz Alam
347. Shamsul Islam, Associate Professor University of Delhi (retd) and street theatre
practitioner
348. Shama Angelina Chatterjee
349. Shamim Abbasi- Ghazipur
350. (Dr) Shahnawaz Alam, Asst Professor
351. Sheela Sridhar
352. Shweta Damle
353. Simantini Dhuru, Documentary Film Maker, Mumbai
354. Sohail Hashmi, Writer, Film Maker, Heritage Activist, Delhi
355. Subhan Bande
356. (Dr) Subhan Khan
357. Suhel B
358. (Dr) Suraj Bhamare
359. Sujata Gothoskar
360. Sumit Chowdhury
361. Syed

9. 362. Syed Sarwar Hussain, Writer, Patna
363. Syed Tehsin Ahmed, Political Activist, Delhi
364. S Subramanian (Economist)
365. S.Devaraj
366. Sabiha Hashmi
367. Sadhna Arya
368. Saheli Women's Resource Centre, New Delhi NCR
369. Salama pathan pune
370. Salim Yusufji
371. Sandeep Ravindranath
372. Sanjoy Sachdev
373. Sarfaraj Ragrej, Businessman, Kota Rajasthan
374. (Dr.) Satish Joshi
375. Sebbi
376. Selma DSilva
377. SG Vasudev
378. Shakanar pathan baramati job
379. Shakun D
380. Shamil Malik Businessman Delhi
381. Shampa Roy
382. Shamsul Islam
383. Shanthi
384. Sharad Raj, Filmmaker
385. Shashidhar Kapur
386. Shekhar Pathak, Retd. Teacher, Kumaon University, Nainital
387. SHIRISH MEDHI
388. Shiva Shankar
389. Shridevi PN
390. Shrikant Babhulkar
391. SHRIRAM DUBEY
392. Shuddhabrata Sengupta
393. Sonali Ghosh
394. sonia khurana , visual artist
395. Sudeshna Banerjee
396. sudha Varghese
397. Sudhir Chandra (Historian)
398. Sukla Sen
399. Surabhi Tandon, Filmmaker
400. Susheela K
401. Susit Mitra
402. Susit Mitra
403. Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar
404. Swarnamala Sirsi
405. Sadik Shaikh, Engineer, Latur
406. Safrdar Ali, Social Activist, Assam
407. Sagar Mirchapure, Student, JNU, Delhi
408. Sahir Khan, Student, Ichalkaranji
409. Saifuddin Saifi, Editor, Lok Jung, MP
410. Salim Sayyad, Social Activist, Latur
411. Salman, Social Activist, Bihar

10. 412. Samir Patel, Social Activist, Latur
413. Satyajit Chavan, Social Activist, Nashik
414. Shadab Khan, Social Activist, Bihar
415. Shahnaz, Homemaker, Gorakhpur
416. Shahrukh Khan, Political Activist, Rajasthan
417. Shaista Parvin, Social Activist, Bhopal
418. Shakeel Patel, Political Activist, Bharuch
419. Shanur Bagwan, Social Activist, Latur
420. Shinde Machhindra, Social Activist, Nashik
421. Shinde Santosh, Social Activist, Nagpur
422. Sophia, Posts & Telegraph, Bihar
423. (Dr) Teesta Setalvad, Author, Journalist, Activist
424. Tushar Gandhi, Peace, Rights and Liberalism Influencer
425. Tanvi Mishra
426. Tanvir Shaikh, Social Activist, UAE
427. Tanveer Ahmad Khan, Social Worker
428. The truth of it is plain and apparent, and that's why the threats come.
429. They have spoken the fact
430. Timir Basu, Editor, Frontier
431. Tony sequeira
432. Udai
433. Umar, Social Activist, Varanasi
434. Umaira, Social Activist
435. Umesh Chandola
436. Unni krishnan
437. Unni krishnan, Secretary, Mumbai Rationalists Association & Activist
438. Unnikrishna, Secreat
439. (Dr) V. Lakshminarayana, AIPF
440. Vilas Dhage, Social Activist, Latur
441. Vasanthi Raman, (Prof., retd), New Delhi
442. Vicky
443. Vinita Balekundri, Maharashtra Hawker Federation
444. Vivan Sundaram, Artist and Activist
445. Vallari Sanzgiri
446. Vandana Misra
447. Vandana Misra
448. Vidya Das Arora
449. Vidya Dinker
450. Vikram Kaushik
451. Vinay Lal, Professor of History, UCLA
452. Vineet Tiwari
453. Vineeta Bal
454. Vishal Jadhav
455. Wan Manan
456. Wajid Ali, Social Activist, Gujarat
457. Wankhede Manish, Social Activist, Amravati
458. Wasiuddin Siddiqui, Editor, Salar-e-Hind, Delhi

11. 459. Walter Fernandes
460. Yaqoob Rahi (Poet, Mumbai)
461. Yaman
462. Yousuf Saeed
463. Zafar Agha, National Herald, Delhi
464. Zafar Bakht, Allahabad
465. Zaheer Ali, Chairman, Centre for Promotion of Democracy and Secularism,
Mumbai
466. Zakir Sardar Naufil Arya, Poet, Agra
467. Zoya Hasan, Professor Emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
468. Zamser Ali, Journalist and Writter, Guwahati
469. Zeenat Shaukatali, Wisdom Foundation
470. Zoya Hasan, Professor Emerita, JNU
471. Zakiya Khan, Social Activist
472. Zoya Rasool, Social Activist, UAE