Call to the Creative Community

Fifteen years ago, in early 1993, following the Ayodhya crisis and Mumbai riots, artists and writers came under a serious threat from communal and divisive forces. In July that year, the Convention on Freedom of Expression was held in New Delhi. Suhas Borker, one of the Conveners of the 1993 Convention, has sent us these lines for publication in this journal. These lines were penned at that time as the Call to the Convention and sent to the creative community all over the country. The Rashtritya Ekta Abhiyan—the movement launched by the secular and democratic political parties (including the CPI and CPM), trade unions, people’s movements and cultural organisations—had convened the Convention. Today, when freedom of expression is under threat in the country once more, it is relevant to recall these words. —Editor