This is VK Tripathi. I joined IIT Delhi as professor of physics in 1983, January, and retired in 2013. Prior to that, I was at University of Maryland for 6 years in United States. Before that, I was a lecturer in IIT Delhi for 5 years, and prior to that, I was doing my PhD at IIT Delhi. So my association with IIT Delhi has been pretty long, starting 1967, and till 2018, because after my retirement, I was professor of physics for 5 years. 

I was born in a village in Uttar Pradesh, in Jhansi District - the village name is Pipri -  in 1948. I studied my primary school in my village, then I did my 12th from Lalitpur, which was the tehsil of my district. And then I did my BSc from Jhansi, MSc from Agra College, Agra, and then PhD from IIT Delhi. For the last 36 years, I have been working to develop grassroots, non-violent resistance against communalism. That is my major area of concern.

Well there were two turns in my life. One was in 1982 when I decided to quit United States and return to India. Because in 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon and they attacked Palestinian camps over there. A lot of professors and scientists at the university were hesitant to talk because the United States government was supporting Israel. Then I decided to do something, because I thought that people of the world are one and their governments are very different. People of the United States are concerned about well-being of people in the world, but the governments have very different thinking, different perspectives. I always found that masses, especially in third world countries, are under a lot of repression. Not only from the local governments, but from global political might also. So I decided to return. 

That was one turning point, the second was in 1989, when I was visiting the United States on my sabbatical. During that period, I learned of major criminal riots in Bihar, in Bhagalpur. And, subsequently, I decided that I will spend my weekends, my evenings, my holidays going to people and developing a grassroots resistance against sectarianism.

Indian government position is also very different than the position of Indian masses, even on Gaza. On all major issues, majority of the people in the world have very different perceptions and concerns than the governments of those countries. Even in Israel, people have different perceptions than the Israeli government. So in India, certainly, the present regime is of a very different attitude, they have a different perspective of what is happening in Gaza and Israel. I am worried about the people in Gaza, as well as people in India. Because if you take a position siding with the people affected by violence, rather than the perpetrators of violence and war and mass starvation, then there is a class of people in India also who support the regime, and they are so cruel. They support lynching here, they support criminal rights here, and if they get a boost from what is happening in Gaza I think this will reflect on their activities in India, so I really feel concerned about Indian masses also.

Well, my effect has been very, very marginal. I go to colleges, but I don't enter the college premises. I talk to students who are leaving the college or entering the college, because there was a time when we could hold free discussions in college campuses, university campuses, IIT campuses. But now that phase is over for the last few years. And consequently, I had to walk on the streets and talk to students, so my interaction has been very limited. Nevertheless I have been able to spread my words through my pamphlets and through social media also to a significant number of people. And earlier, two months ago, when I started the new phase of the campaign, I found that people are more vocal now than they were two years ago. Not really because of me, I think there is a realization that the people in Gaza had been pushed to the wall and they are confronting death. Recently, I think there is concern in society.

Well, it's not really clear to me, because what we need to do is convince our government to please follow Gandhian doctrine of non-cooperation, that Gandhi started in 1919, 106 years ago, against the British regime. He made an appeal to people in India that don't cooperate with the government. Because at that time there was a massacre in Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab, there were a lot of atrocities in many places, so Gandhi declared that unless the government changes its attitude and policies, we should not cooperate with the government. Same thing I think our government should do. We would like our regime to understand that until mass starvation is stopped as a weapon of war against the children, women, and unarmed civilians, we should cut all relations - whether it's purchasing arms, or helping Israel in low-grade warfare, or economic cooperation - it should be suspended. Not only India, I would like that all countries of the world must non-cooperate with the regime until it stops this butchery of people in Gaza.

Yeah, there is one thing, that we should not cooperate until the war ends. And second thing, I think they should recognize - as many of the countries of the world are - recognize the Palestinian state. But they should specifically say that the Palestinians should be given full autonomy. As in the Oslo agreement in 1993 where Israel had to recognize the right of full autonomy of Palestinian people in Gaza and West Bank. So they must push for that as well.

Unfortunately, that situation is pretty bad. Because if there were free discussion in India, then millions of people will be on the streets demonstrating on this issue. As I go and talk to people, more than half - less privileged people particularly - many of them don't understand what is happening in Gaza, but when I explain to them they feel concerned about it. Majority of the people feel concerned, and many of those people would like to share their concerns openly. But they feel that the government position is very different, and especially the people who are close to the government - the Indian business class, Indian officer class, Indian elite, and the communalists who are engaged in or who support lynching - those people are very vocal, and they are vocally supporting atrocities on Gaza.  So these people feel that if we do something, then these goons may attack us, or the government may take action. So it's curbing free speech through government policy, as well as through giving support to goons in society.

Indeed, indeed! That is the worst thing that is happening currently in society. India has been having independent governments since 1947, when I was very young, and they allowed free speech. Many people were critical of government policy and there was no lynching in society - no attack by goons on people. And there was no attack by police, there was no arrest on this. But currently, I see that anybody who is critical of the government position on national or international issues, they can have tough times.