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A group of current and retired faculty members at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) has asked leaders of corporate India to "de-fund" the spread of misinformation and hate speech through news channels and social media.
In an open letter (above), written in their personal capacity, 11 present and six retired IIM-B faculty members have said that they are drawing the attention of corporate India leaders to the "fragile state of internal security with an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country."
Noting that over the past few years, an open and public exhibit of hatred towards minorities in public discourse has become common practice in India, in political discourse, television news, as well as on social media, the signatories said the usage of othering, dehumanising and demonising language while referring to minorities has reached alarming levels, and acts of violent hate crimes, often by organised and radicalised groups, against minorities have seen a rise.
"The inaction of police and security forces during recent communal riots, as well as the acquittal or pardoning of culprits involved in rape and mass murder during previous instances of riots, coupled with the silence of authorities, has signalled a glaring level of complacency in place of urgency by the government," they said.
Further suggesting that these trends concern corporate India, as they point towards an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country, they said in the worst case, such acts of violence could culminate into a genocide, which would annihilate the social fabric as well as the economy of the country, casting a long dark shadow over India's future.
Corporate India, which hopes to reach new frontiers of international growth and innovation in the 21st century, cannot afford to live with even a small possibility of such a scenario, they added.
The signatories to the letter are: Anubha Dhasmana, Arpita Chatterjee, B K Chandrashekar, Deepak Malghan, Hema Swaminathan, Krishna T Kumar, Malay Bhattacharyya, Mira Bakhru, P D Jose, Prateek Raj, Raghavan Srinivasan, Rajluxmi V Murthy, Ritwik Banerjee, Shalique M S, Soham Sahoo, Srinivasan Murali, and Vinod Vyasulu.
Highlighting that India has a long history of tolerance and peaceful coexistence of different faiths, the signatories said, "We would like to believe that the risk of large-scale violent conflicts or genocide in India is still small. However, this risk is no longer close to zero, as the rapidly increasing levels of radicalisation of citizens are fermenting an atmosphere conducive to large-scale violence being triggered due to unexpected disturbances."
"Even if India does evade such a risk, it is certain that the deteriorating social fabric in the country, due to increasing hate and dehumanising speech and radicalisation, shall inevitably lead to escalating violence and socioeconomic uncertainty, permanently paralysing the future of the country," they added.
Pointing out that maintaining peace, stability and cohesion in the country is of paramount importance to corporate India without which India cannot become an economic powerhouse, the letter says the leaders of corporate India have an important and substantial role to play in curbing the spread of hate and misinformation.
The old and current IIM-B faculty appeals to corporate India to: stop funding hate, support responsible stakeholders, curate a welcoming work culture, and use your voice for fraternity, they said.