Response to the show cause notice by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to Indian Social Institute, New Delhi. Indian Social Institute is an institute of research, training and advocacy. Its primary focus is on dalits, tribals, women and other marginalised communities. As an institute of human concern, it responds to the emerging concerns of society in collaboration with like minded people and organisations. We, in the Institute, are dismayed by the show cause notice issued to us by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The said notice alleged that 'in the run up to the ongoing general elections, your association has been associated with the release of certain advertisements in the press and with certain documents the contents of which are in the nature of comments of a political nature'. The Institute totally denies the charges. It has not issued any advertisement or document of partisan political nature. But some of our concerns as citizens have been protection of civil and political rights as enshrined in the Constitution. What has happened during the last couple of years of governance is an attack on India's secular polity and the Constitution. As a body of concerned researchers and citizens, upholding and protecting the Constitution is our primary task. The Institute is not, as alleged in the show cause notice, an association of political nature. But social research cannot be done in a vacuum. It has to look at reality from the socio-economic, cultural and political dimensions. Given the nature of the Institute, all its research is field-based and factual. Even documents and publications brought out by the Institute are centred on facts though may be critical of political elite. The research results are highlighted in the public domain for advocacy and interventions. The Institute protests all human rights violations and in their protests the Institute joins similar organisations and protestors. The purpose is to defend the Constitution from all kinds of assault. The show cause notice, therefore is meant to stifle dissent and to silence all those who protest against the vested and hidden interests of the state. And this, as an Institute, we are determined to resist.
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