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Over 150 scholars and academics have issued an open letter to the Sameeksha Trust, which publishes the _Economic and Political Weekly_, on their distress at the abrupt manner in which the

Trust forced the exit of _EPW_ editor Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. They said the exit has dealt a strong blow to _EPW_’s credibility. Among the prominent signatories to the letter are Ramachandra

Guha, Nivedita Menon, Arindam Sen, Noam Chomsky and Nandini Sundar. On July 18, Guha Thakurta had stepped down after the Trust took down an article from the _EPW _website he had co-authored

on an Adani Group firm. The Trust had put out a statement on July 20 that Guha Thakurta had started legal proceedings without informing or obtaining their approval and, therefore, began the

legal reply to the Adani notice that “it was at the instruction of the Sameeksha Trust”. In the open letter, the signatories said: “India is currently living through a dark period in which

there are real concerns about freedom and independence of intellectual expression, both for academics and journalists, with significant corporate takeover of major media houses and

increasing instances of overt and covert intimidation of independent thinking and debate. In this context, reports of what appears to be a capitulation by the Board of Trustees of Sameeksha

Trust – removing the “offending” article from the _EPW_ website and trying to impose humiliating terms on the Editor – are alarming. The _EPW_ has a long and distinguished tradition of

promoting independent and critical thinking that is vital in a democracy. We expect the current Trustees to be mindful of our inherited legacy that they hold in trust on behalf of us as

scholars, analysts and activists in India and abroad, who have contributed to _EPW_ over long decades. They need to take immediate steps to restore the prestige and credibility of the

journal and the Sameeksha Trust. This letter is therefore also asking the Trust, which (regardless of its purely legal status) is in the nature of a body accountable to a larger public, to

create channels of communication between the Trust and the _EPW_ community so as to strengthen the autonomy and integrity of _EPW_.”