Over 140 Indian citizens warn of ‘fratricide’ if ‘silence’ persists after Bengal attacks

By A Representative 

In an urgent and unprecedented joint statement, more than 140 prominent Indians—including former union ministers, retired civil servants, artists, scientists, and activists—have warned that the country stands on the “verge of a fratricide” unless citizens break their silence over what they call a complete breakdown of the rule of law in West Bengal.

The signatories, who include former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, Gandhian Tushar Gandhi, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, rights activist Teesta Setalvad, and retired St. Stephen’s professor Nandita Narain, have condemned the recent “brute attacks” on two Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs—Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee—on May 30-31, 2026.

“These violent attacks … not only signify the utter and complete breakdown of any semblance of the Rule of Law in West Bengal,” the statement reads. “They send out grim warning signals to the rest of the country, and are a sign that all out fratricide (more physical, unchecked attacks on the Opposition) may follow.”

The signatories point to the May 4, 2026, West Bengal assembly election results, which they describe as “shrouded under a cloud” after the Election Commission allegedly divested 91 lakh (9.1 million) previous voters of their voting rights. They note that the attacks occurred even while central forces remain deployed in the state.

The statement also criticizes the congratulatory message from former U.S. President Donald Trump to the Indian Prime Minister following the election, calling it “direct interference in internal affairs” and an “attack on Indian federalism.”

“We, Indian writers and activists … have little hope that the Indian Lok Sabha will either move a Privilege Motion nor outrightly demand a response from the ruling dispensation as is the well-established law and practice,” the statement adds, contrasting the silence now with parliamentary uproar after the 2001 killing of MP Phoolan Devi.

The signatories include former bureaucrat Ashish Joshi, activists Shabnam Hashmi and Ram Puniyani, Jesuit leaders Father Frazer Mascarenhas and Cedric Prakash, journalists Javed Anand and Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, and artists Shakuntala Kulkarni and Navjot Altaf.

“This silence from autonomous and independent bodies bodes ill for India and Indians,” they warn. “We remain mute spectators only to our own peril.”

The statement was released by “Concerned Citizens, Mumbai” on June 3, 2026.