Protest Letter to Vice Chancellor of Delhi University - 4000 intellectuals against removal of A K Ramanujan’s essay ’Three Hundred Ramayanas’ from courses of Delhi University

From: Neeladri Bhattacharya

Date: Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 9:30 AM

Subject: ramanujan affair

To: vc@du.ac.in

Dear Professor Dinesh Singh

We are forwarding a letter signed by more than 4000 intellectuals from all over the world protesting against the withdrawal of Professor Ramanujan’s celebrated essay ’Three Hundred Ramayanas’ from the reading list of one of the under graduate courses of Delhi University. This action by the Academic Council has shocked and dismayed all those who see university as a place of learning, a space that allows a free exchange of ideas, and helps shape critical minds. By repressing ideas we destroy the very basis of this ideal.

As you will notice the letter has been signed by many of the greatest authorities on Indian culture and civilization – Sanskritists, intellectuals who have spent a lifetime translating and writing on the Indian Epics, and historians who have written extensively on Indian religions. Many of them are now organizing protests within their universities against this new culture of banning ideas, censoring texts, policing intellectuals. It is sad that in all their protests and meetings the University of Delhi – a respected and hallowed institution – is now the focus of enraged attacks. Everywhere the act of the Academic Council is being seen as a capitulation to the forces of Hindutva.

We are certain you are aware of the articles that have been published and the meetings that are being organized on the issue – the ’Ramanujan Affair’ as it is being presently termed. But I am sending you some of the links to these essays, just in case you have missed them. You will notice that one unintended consequence of your Academic Council action has been to spark off protests against the OUP – a protest that was long overdue.

We hope you will act in ways that restores the prestige of the University and assures intellectuals that Delhi University will not repress freedom to express ideas, that it will not deny its students the right to read texts that disturbs the unitarian vision of sectarian forces. This cannot be done without reinstating the essay in the reading list.

Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU

Professsor Tanika Sarkar, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU

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The letter of protest:

We express our profound shock that the Delhi University Academic Council has decided to drop A.K. Ramanujan’s highly acclaimed essay on many Ramayanas from the reading list of one of the B.A. courses. Professor Ramanujan is recognized all over the world as one of the most eminent authorities on pre-modern literature and culture. The essay ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts’ shows in rich detail how Indian culture is constituted of a multiplicity of traditions, how it speaks with many voices. It is an essay that all young people, not just history students, ought to read. To delete it from the syllabus is an act that is deeply disturbing, an instance of thought policing. Such a measure will only encourage sectarian groups to try and prevent intellectuals from expressing their ideas freely. The action of the Vice Chancellor and the Academic council is particularly distressing since it overrules the majority opinion of the Expert Committee that was set up (under the direction of the Supreme Court) to look into the controversy.

The letter has been signed by over 4300 intellectuals. This is a short list of some of the signatories to the letter

1. Professor Romila Thapar, Centre for Historical Studies, (CHS), JNU

3. Professor, Bipan Chandra, CHS, JNU, Chairman, National Book Trust of India

4. Professor Tanika Sarkar, CHS, JNU

5. Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya, CHS, JNU

6. Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, CHS, JNU
7. Professor Kumkum Roy, CHS, JNU

8. Professor MSS Pandian, CHS, JNU

9. Professor Radhika Singha, CHS, JNU

10. Professor Janaki Nair, CHS, JNU

11. Professor Rajat Datta, CHS, JNU

12. Dr Hiraman Tiwari , CHS, JNU

13. Professor BD Chattopadhyaya, CHS, JNU

14. Professor Harbans Mukhia, CHS, JNU

15. Professor Sheldon Pollock, Columbia University.

16. Professor Richard Gombrich, School of oriental Studies, University of Oxford

17. Professor Muzaffar Alam, University of Chicago

18. Professor Robert Goldman, University of California, Berkeley

19. Professor Thomas Trautman, University of Michigan

20. Professsor Daud Ali, University of Pennsylvania.

21. Professor Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago.

22. Professor Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago.

23. Professor Allison Busch, Columbia University.

24. Professor Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University

25. Professor David Ludden, New York University

26. Professor Gyan Prakash, Princeton University

27. Professor Veena Talwar Oldenburg, CUNY.

28. Dr. Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, University of California, Berkeley.

29. Professor Yigal Bronner, University of Chicago.

30. Professor Lawrence Cohen, University of California, Berkeley

31. Professor Ania Loomba, University of Pennsylvania

32. Dr Indrani Chatterjee, Rutgers University

33. Professor Suvir Kaul, University of Pennsylvania

34. Professor Ines Zupanov, CNRS, Paris

35. Professor Jacques Pouchepadass, CNRS, Paris (emeritus)

36. Professor Rochona Majumdar, University of Chicago

37. Professor Arvind Rajagopal, New York University

38. Professor Jairus Banaji, SOAS, University of London

39. Professor Ramachandra Guha, writer, historian, columnist,

London School of Economics

40. Professor David Lelyveld, William Paterson University

41. Professor Natalie Zemon Davis, University of Toronto

42. Professor Sumit Guha, Rutgers University

43. Professor Indrani Chatterjee, Rutgers University

44. Dr Jolie Wood, Asian University for Women

45. Dr Sujatha Meegana, University of California, Berkeley

46. Dr Michele Louro, Salem State University

47. Dr Harris Solomon, Duke University

48. Dr Philip Oldenburg, Columbia University

49. Dr Max Katz, College of William and Mary

50. Professor Veena T Oldenburg, CUNY

51. Professor Ann Gold, Syracuse University

52. Professor Frances Pritchett, Columbia University

53. Professor Stewart Gordon, University of Michigan

54. Professor Velcheru Narayana Rao, Emory University

55. Professor Juan Cole, University of Michigan

56. Professor Barbara Ramusack, University of Cincinnati

57. Dr Haimanti Roy, MIT

58. Professor Susan Wadley, Syracuse University

59. Dr Kalyani Ramnath, National Law of India University

60. Professor Ann Hardgrave, University of Texas at San Antonio

61. Professor Paula Richman, Oberlin College

62. Professor, Max Katz, College of William and Mary

63. Francis Pritchett,, Columbia University

64. Professor Ralph Nicholas, University of Chicago

65. Professor Brian Hatcher, Tufts University

66. Professor Barbara Ramusack, University of Cincinnati

67. Professor Nalini Iyer, Seattle University

68. Professor Raka Ray, University of California

69. Professor Duouglas Haynes, Dartmouth College, Hanover

70. Dr Joyce Flueckiger, Emory University

71. Dr Ayesha Irani, University of Montreal

72. Dr Parita Sundar, Kettering University

73. Professor Sucheta Mahajan, CHS, JNU

74. Professor Ranabir Chakravarty, CHS, JNU

75. Professor Mridula Mukherjee, CHS, JNU

76. Professor Aditya Mukherjee, CHS, JNU

77. Professor Vijaya Ramaswamy, CHS, JNU

78. Dr R Mahalakshmi, CHS, JNU

79. Dr Najaf Haider, CHS, JNU

80. Dr Nandita Sahai, CHS, JNU

81. Dr Joy Pachuau, CHS, JNU

82. Dr Supriya Varma, CHS, JNU

83. Dr Sangeeta Dasgupta, CHS, JNU

84. Dr Arvind Sinha, CHS, JNU

85. Dr Ananya Vajpeyi, Centre for Studies of SDS

86. Dr Aniket Alam, EPW

87. Dr Tanuja Kothiyal, AUD, Delhi

88. Dr Rohit Azad, South Asian University

89. Dr Anuradha Ramanujan, National University of Singapore

90. Dr Andrea Pinkney, National University of Singapore

91. Anubhuti Maurya, Bharati College, DU.

92. Paromita Kar, The Telegraph, Calcutta

93. Dr Manan Ahmad, Freie Universitat Berlin.

94. Dr Daniel J.R. Grey, Wolfson College, University of Oxford

95. Dr Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, Ambedkar University, Delhi.

96. Professor Vijay Prashad, Trinity College.

97. Sohail Hashmi,Writer, Film maker, Columnist-

98. Dr Samira Sheikh, Vanderbilt University

99. Professor Anjali Nerlekar, Rutgers.

100. Professor Ayesha Kidwai, JNU.

101. Dr Rana P Behal, Deshbandhu College, DU

102. Professor Vasudha Dalmia, University of California, Berkeley

103. Dr. Supriya Gandhi, University of Pennsylvania.

104. Dr G Arunima, JNU

105. Dr Rashmi Sadana, IIT Delhi

106. Professor KM Shrimali, Department of History, DU

107. Professor Upinder Singh, Department of History, DU

108. Professor Shahid Amin, Department of History, DU

109. Professor Sunil Kumar, Department of History, DU

110. Professor Arup Banerji, Department of History, DU

111. Professor Seema Alavi, Department of History, DU

112. Professor Amar Farooqui, Department of History, DU

113. Professor BP Sahoo, Department of History, DU

114. Dr Parul Pandya Dhar, Department of History, DU

115. Dr Rqzi Aquil, Department of History, DU

116. Dr Prabhu Mohapatra, Department of History, DU

117. Dr Anshu Malhotra, Department of History, DU

118. Dr Anirudh Deshpande, Department of History, DU

119. Dr David Zhou, Department of History, DU

120. Dr. Aparna Balachandran, Department of History, DU

121. Dr Sanghamitra Misra, Department of History, DU

122. Dr Rahul Govind, Department of History, DU

123. Dr Charu Gupta, Department of History, DU

124. Dr Vikas Gupta, Department of History, DU

125. Prof Farhat Hasan, Department of History, University of Delhi

126. Dr Shalini Shah, Department of History, University of Delhi

127. Dr Shonaleeka Kaul, Department of History, University of Delhi

128. Professor DN Jha, University of Delhi

129. Professor Keshavan Veluthat, Department of History, University of Delhi

130. Dr Parul Pandya Dhar, Department of History, University of Delhi

131. Professor Rama Mantena, University of Illinois at Chicago

132. Dr Bharati Jagannathan, Miranda House, DU

133. Dr Pankaj Jha, Lady Shriram College, DU

134. Dr Karen Gabriel, St Stephen’s College, DU

135. Professor Bhavani Raman, Princeton University.

136. Dr Vijay Tankha, St. Stephen’s College, DU

137. Professor Rajni Palriwala, University of Delhi

138. Dr Rochelle Pinto, Dept of English, University of Delhi

139. Dr Prabha Rani, Lady Shri Ram College, DU

140. Dr Kavita Datla, Mount Holyoke College

141. Dr Sanjay Seth, Goldsmiths College, University of London.

142. Dr Brinda Bose, Dept of English, University of Delhi

143. Professor Brij Tankha, Dept of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi

144. Dr Tanya Roy, Dept of Germanic and Romance Studies (GRS), DU.

145. Professor Sudhir Chella Rajan, Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras

146. Professor G. Balachandran, Graduate Institute, Geneva.

147. Professor Veena Das, Johns Hopkins University.

148. Dr. Bodhisattva Kar, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

149. Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Artist

150. Salman Rushdie, writer, Professor, Emory University, Atlanta, USA

151. Pritish Nandy, writer, poet, editor

152. Shashi Tharoor, writer and MP

153. William Dalrymple, writer

154. Kumar Shahani, Film Maker

155. Kabir Bedi, Artist, Actor

156. Ruchir Joshi, Writer and Film-maker

157. Pradip Krishen, Writer and Film-maker

158. Nilima Sheikh, Artist

159. Ram Rahman, Photographer, member SAHMAT

160. Yousuf Saeed, Independent film maker.

161. Professor Rupal Oza, Hunter College, CUNY.

162. Professor Joanne Punzo Waghorne, Syracuse University

163. Dr Anand Pandian, Johns Hopkins University

164. Dr Nayana Dasgupta, Lady Shriram College, DU

165. Professor Ali Mir, William Paterson University

166. Dr Vijay Singh, University of Delhi

167. Professor Steven F. Walker, Rutgers

168. Johanna Lessinger, Dept. of Anthropology, John Jay College CUNY.

169. Dr. Rajshree Dhali, S.G.T.B. Khalsa College, D.U.

170. Dr Ashley Tellis, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi

171. Dr Francesca Orsini, SOAS, University of London

172. Professor Ravinder Kaur, IIT Delhi

173. Professor Rukmini Bhaya Nair, IIT Delhi

174. Arpita Das, Publisher, YODA PRESS

175. Professor Ramya Sreenivasan, University of Pennsylvania

176. Dr Stuti Khanna, IIT Delhi

177. Professor Lakshmi Subramanian, CSSSC

178. Professor Sambudha Sen, Dept of English. University of Delhi.

179. Professor Farina Mir, University of Michigan.

180. Dr Nandini Chandra, Dept of English, DU

181. Satyajit Singh, Dept of Political Science, University of Delhi

182. Dr Deborah Sutton, Lancaster University, UK

183. G. N. Devy, Bhasha Research Centre

184. Rammanohar Reddy, Economic and Political Weekly.

185. Dr Nilofer Kaul, Hansraj College, DU

186. Rukun Advani,writer, publisher, Permanent Black.

187. Shahana Bhattacharya, Kirori Mal College, DU

188. Professor Kavita Panjabi, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

189. Professor Rimli Bhattacharya, Dept of English, University of Delhi

190. Lawrence Liang, Alternative law Forum, Bangalore

191. Siddharth Narrain, Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore.

192. Dr Anil Persaud, Ambedkar University, Delhi

193. Dr Priyamvada Gopal, University of Cambridge

194. Dr Farhana Ibrahim, IIT Delhi

195. Professor Amlan Das Gupta, Dept of English, Jadavpur University.

196. Professor Udaya Kumar, Dept of English, University of Delhi

197. Dr Anup Dhar, School of Human Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi

198. Dr Antoon De Baets, History Dept, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

199. Professor Dilip Menon, Mellon Chair in Indian Studies, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

200.

201. Dr Sohini Guha, Dept of Political Science, University of Delhi

202. Professor Jyotirmaya Sharma, University of Hyderabad

203. Professor Susan Visvanathan, JNU, Delhi

204. Dr Prachi Deshpande, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

205. Professor Satish Deshpande, Dept of Sociology, University of Delhi

206. Professor William J. Glover, The University of Michigan

207. Professor Corey Creekmur, University of Iowa

208. Professor Michael Witzel, South Asian Studies, Harvard University

209. Professor Arif Dirlik, University of Oregon.

210. Professor Radhika Chopra, Dept of Sociology, University of Delhi

211. Professor Lex Heerma van Voss, Utrecht University, Netherlands; Huygens Institute of Dutch History

212. Dr Shubhra Nagalia, Ambedkar University, Delhi

213. Dr. Chitra Joshi, Indraprastha College, University of Delhi

214. Dr Shubhra Chakrabati, Dayal Singh College, University of Delhi

215. Dr.Ira Bhaskar, The School of Arts & Aesthetics, JNU

216. Dr. Vijaya Venkataraman, GRS, University of Delhi

217. Manju Kapur, DU

218. Professor Vibha Maurya, GRS, DU

219. Keval Arora, Kirori Mal College, DU

220. Akhil Katyal, DU

221. Dr Varuni Bhatia, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

222. Tania Bhattacharyya, Oxford University

223. Nilima Chitgopekar, Jesus & Mary College, University of Delhi

224. K.P.Shankaran, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

225. Rakesh Sharma, Film-maker

226. Dhananjay Kapse, Kirori Mal College, DU

227. Pulkit Aggarwal, University of Delhi

228. Mukul Kesavan, Jamia Millia Islamia

229. Asiya Alam, University of Texas, Austin

230. Professor Abhai Maurya, DU

231. Satyam, Secretary, Rahul (Sankrityayan) Foundation

232. Mudasir Wani, Jawaharlal Nehru University

233. Sanjay Sharma, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, University of Delhi

234. Dr. Roopa Dhawan, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, Delhi

235. Vinita Chandra, Ramjas College, University of Delhi

236. Subhadra Mitra Channa, Dept of Anthropology

237. Shaswati Mazumdar, GRS, University of Delhi

238. Dr. Meena Bhargava, Indraprastha College, University of Delhi

239. Anuradha Roy, Permanent Black

240. Kanchan, Dept of Education Delhi Univ.

241. Mahesh Gopalan, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

242. Sahba Husain

243. Deepak Mehta, Dept of Sociology, DU

244. Svati Joshi, Miranda House, University of Delhi

245. Denys P. Leighton, Ambedkar University, Delhi

246. Rohan D’Souza, Jawaharlal Nehru University

247. Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

248. Amol Saghar, University of Delhi

249. Apoorvanand, Dept of Hindi

250. Nandita Narain, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

251. Sudha Vasan, Dept of Sociology, University of Delhi

252. Nalini Nayak, PGDAV (M) College

253. Deepika Tandon, Miranda House, University of Delhi

254. Dr. M. Tarique Anwar, Zakir Husain College, DU

255. Professor Purushottam Agrawal, JNU

256. Saumyajit Bhattacharya, Kirori Mal College, Delhi Univ.

257. G. N. Saibaba, Ram Lal Anand College, DU

258. S.B. Upadhyay, IGNOU

259. Tanya Matthan, University of Delhi

260. Rashmi Pant, Indraprastha College University of Delhi

261. Sharmila Purkayastha, Dept. of English, Miranda House
262. Tulsi Patel, DU

263. Dr. Mridu Rai ,Trinity College, Dublin

264. Mayank Kumar, Fellow, NMML, New Delhi

265. John Harriss, Simon Fraser University Vancouver

266. Hari Sen, Ramjas College, University of Delhi

267. Neera Chandhoke, DU

268. Pratiksha Baxi, CSLG, JNU

269. Shobhana Sinha, Bharati College, DU

270. Parul Bhardwaj, Miranda House

271. Vijender Sharma, ARSD College, University of Delhi

272. Udit Bhatia, Student, St. Stephen’s College

273. Vandana Joshi, Venkateswara College, DU

274. Ankita, I P College, DU

275. Dr. Jaya Menon, Aligarh Muslim University

276. Pradip Kumar Datta, University of Delhi

277. Vineeta Sharma, Kirori Mal College, DU

278. Anirban Dasgupta, South Asian University

279. Anupama Roy, JNU

280. Mahmood Farooqui, Writer and Performer

281. Jahnavi Phalkey, King’s College London

282. Esther Moraes, Student, St Stephens College

283. Supriya Chaudhuri, Jadavpur University

284. Ujjwal Kumar Singh , University of Delhi

285. Meera Visvanathan, CHS, JNU

286. Avrati Bhatnagar, Ramjas College, DU

287. Anurupa Roy, Theatre artiste

288. Pragati Mohapatra, IP College, University of Delhi

289. Bikram Phookun, St Stephen’s College

290. Dr Lata Singh, Maitreyi College, University of Delhi

292. Appasamy Murugaiyan, EPHE-Paris

293. Nuzhat Kazmi, JMI

294. Naina Dayal, St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

295. Abhijit Kundu, University of Delhi

296. Ruchi Sharma, KMC

297. Sahil Kumar, GRS, DU

298. Kiran Desai, Author

299. Anamika Bandopadhyay, Independent Filmmaker

300. Arudra Burrra, UCLA School of Law

301. Shashi Deshpande, Novelist

302. Mukul Mangalik, Ramjas College, University of Delhi

303. GJV Prasad, JNU

304. K.Satchidanandan, Writer

305. Geeta Verma, GRS, DU

306. Dr. Vasudha Pande, LSR, DU

307. Salil Misra, Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD)

308. Angelie Multani, IIT Delhi

309. Rakesh Pandey, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi

310. Dr. J Devika, Centre for Development Studies

311. Professor Narayani Gupta, JMI

312. Neetha N., Centre for Women’s Development Studies

313. Gauri Gill, Photographer

314. Dr. Veena Naregal, IEG

315. Aswathy Senan, University of Delhi

316. Krishna Majumdar, Daulat Ram College. D.U.

317. Ranjith Thankappan, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad

318. Barnita Bagchi, Utrecht University

319. Divya Trivedi, Journalist

320. Aadil Brar, M S University of Baroda

321. D.W. Karuna, University of Delhi

322. Nilanjana Mukherjee, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (M)

323. Dan Lusthaus, Harvard University

324. Dr. Luis Gonzalez-Reimann, University of California, Berkeley

325. Asko Parpola, Professor emeritus of Indology, University of Helsinki

326. Jonathan Silk, Leiden University

327. Sanjay Hegde, Lawyer

328. Professor Guy G. Stroumsa, University of Oxford

329. Tista Bagchi, CSIR-NISTADS / University of Delhi

330. Sucharita Sengupta, JNU

331. Bhoomika Meiling, Ambedkar University, Delhi

332. Dr. J. Neuss, Free University Berlin

333. Rebecca Williams, University of Warwick

334. Karin Preisendanz, University of Vienna

335. Monika Freier, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin

336. Dr. Eviatar Shulman, Tel-Aviv University

337. Suchetana Chattopadhyay, Dept of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

338. Abhijeet Bardapurkar, Ambedkar University, Delhi

339. Matthew Kapstein, University of Chicago and EPHE (Paris)

340. Dr. Sonja Stark-Wild, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany

341. Professor Vinay Lal, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

342. Amrita Pande, University of Cape Town, South Africa

343. Vinay Jawahar, Centre for Communication and Development Studies

344. Saumya Gupta, Janki Devi Memorial College

345. Pintu Kumar, Motilal Nehru College (eve), University of Delhi

346. Manisha Sethi, Jamia teachers’ Solidarity Association

347. Ahmed Sohaib, Jamia Millia Islamia

348. Koenraad Elst

349. Siddhiraj Singh Bisht, University of Delhi

350. Anand Venkatkrishnan, Columbia University, Dept of Religion

351. Nilanjana Bhattacharya, Visva-Bharati

352. Monisha Bhattacharya, Indian Institute of Science

353. Mukul Priyadarshini, Miranda House

354. Dr. Nonica Datta, Miranda House, University of Delhi

355. Geetika Bapna, University of Delhi

356. Jean-Luc Chevillard, CNRS (France)

357. Kalyani Devaki Menon, DePaul University

358. Rupa Viswanath, Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Goettingen

359. Anustup Basu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

360. Arshad Alam, Jamia Millia Islamia

361. Anuradha Roy, Dept. of History, Jadavpur University

362. Professor D N Jha, University of Delhi

363. Dr Rohini Hensman

364. Professor Uma Chakravarti, DU

365. Neelakshi Suryanarayan, DU

366. Linda Hess, Stanford University,

367. John Stratton Hawley, Barnard College, Columbia University

368. Neeraj Malik, IP College, University of Delhi

369. Javed Malick, University of Delhi

370. Vikram Vyas, St. Stephen’s College

371. Dr Aditya Sarkar, University of Goettingen, Germany

372. Janaki Abraham, Dept of Sociology, DU

373. Saurav Kumar Rai, History Dept, University of Delhi

374. Geetha Venkataraman, Ambedkar University, Delhi

375. Badri Raina, DU

376. Ira Raja, University of Delhi

377. Sanjeev Grewal, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi

378. Professor Imrana Qadeer, JNU

379. Dr Dilip Simeon, DU

380. Anand Patwardhan, Film Maker

381. Shuddhabrata Sengupta, CSDS

382. Professor Kumkum Sangari

RAM GUHA’S LETTER TO OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Sheldon Pollock’s letter to OUP, Oxford

V Dharwadker statement on RAMANUJAN CENSORSHIP 26 November 2011