Stop funding hate, IIM-Bangalore faculty tell corporates

A section of current and retired faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIMB) have asked corporate leaders to "de-fund the spread of misinformation and hate speech".

In an open letter, 11 present and six retired IIMB faculty members said India's internal security is "fragile...with an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country". The open letter is signed "in our personal capacity", they said.

The signatories of the open letter include Hema Swaminathan, Anubha Dhasmana, Arpita Chatterjee, BK Chandrashekar, Deepak Malghan, Krishna T Kumar, Malay Bhattacharyya, Mira Bakhru, PD Jose, Prateek Raj, Raghavan Srinivasan, Rajluxmi V Murthy, Ritwik Banerjee, Shalique MS, Soham Sahoo, Srinivasan Murali and Vinod Vyasulu.

"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 usage of othering, dehumanizing and demonizing language while referring to minorities has reached alarming levels and acts of violent hate crimes, often by organized and radicalized groups, against minorities have seen a rise," they stated.

"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.

Corporate India, they said, must be concerned. "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 said.

The signatories said the risk of large-scale violence or genocide in India is still small due to the country's history of tolerance and peaceful co-existence of different faiths. "However, this risk is no longer close to zero...," they said, citing increasing levels of radicalization.

The signatories asked corporate India to stop funding news and social media organizations that publicly air hateful or genocidal content against a community of people. They also said corporate India must support responsible stakeholders, curate a welcoming work culture and "use your voice for fraternity".