TCN News
The Coalition to Stop Genocide in India, a broad network of more than 100 Indo-American organizations led a massive rally at Times Square against the celebration of the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
Protestors in huge numbers gathered at Times Square in New York on the evening of August 5 chanting slogans and highlighting the massive human rights violation against marginalized communities in India.
“Islamophobia has escalated in India leading to lynchings, pogroms, cultural genocide and exemplified by the establishment of a temple on the site of a demolished mosque and this shows anti-Muslim bigotry is government policy in India,” said Nihad Awad, Executive Director, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, by Hindu nationalist militias as part of a political campaign by the BJP party where leaders led to destruction of the masjid premises in broad daylight. The campaign was also accompanied by killing of hundreds of Muslims across India both before and after the demolition. Almost three decades from then, the Supreme Court pronounced the destruction as “illegal” but has still handed over the site to “Hindutva supremacist litigants.” Under the BJP at Centre, the disputed site at Ayodhya in India was handed over to temple trust in a Supreme Court decision in November 2019 for which the foundation stone was laid down at the site during a Bhoomi Pujan ceremony on August 5 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Celebrations in New York City for the temple foundation stone laying ceremony were planned by a Hindutva supremacists group, American Indian Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) at Times Square as the Ram temple was displayed on the billboard at the Square. AIPAC, however, faced a massive counter-protest by the Coalition to stop Hindutva ideologues from “normalizing human rights violation in India.”The Coalition reiterated that those who had gathered at Times Square to celebrate the construction of Ram temple in India on the ruins of the Babri Masjid have professed that hate and bigotry are celebrated by Hindu supremacists and hence the Coalition held a rally to remind them that hatred cannot be normalized and it cannot be celebrated.
The Coalition to Stop Genocide in India had previously opposed AIPAC’s announcement of celebration jointly with 100 more community welfare associations including Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Ambedkar King Study Circle, Jews Undoing Institutional Racism, Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA), Ambedkarite Buddist Association, Latino Advocacy, Muslims for Community, Action and Support (MCAS), Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Hindus for Human Rights, South Asian Americans Together for Washington (SAATWA), Ambedkar International Center, Periyar International USA, Students Against Hindutva Ideology (SAHI), Gurudwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur, World Without Hate, Asian Counseling and Referral Service and several others.
“Political Hinduism is NOT a religious issue, it’s a class issue and final victory is possible by uniting the workers, peasants and the socially oppressed sections,” said S Karthikeyan of Ambedkar King Study Circle. He added that the Coalition’s protest in New York has brought various sections together “to challenge the Hindutva project.”
Jawad Mohammed, General Secretary of the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) explained how Ram is a revered figure in Hinduism and that respect for all religions is a part of the commitment to pluralism. He elaborated that people’s reverence of Ram “has been manipulated to serve a vile and hateful agenda whose evil fruits are evident not only across India but in the US as well.” He continued that it is unfortunate that far-right extremists in both India and the US have especially “taken to demonizing and denigrating Muslims.”
“Ram temple issue was leveraged by Hindutva forces to polarize Indian society in a destructive campaign resulting in untold human suffering,” echoed Sunita Vishwanath, President of Hindus for Human Rights. She further expressed that it is “alarming” that and ideology that shows “complete disregard for the value of human life and the sanctity of all places of worship is boasting of its evil deeds in India in the heart of New York City which is a representation of inclusiveness of Americans.”
Brad Lander from the New York City Council, who also attended the Coalition’s protest said that “as a New Yorker and as a progressive Jew, I stand with our Muslim neighbours here in the NYC and in Kashmir and throughout India.” He continued that everyone has a responsibility for speaking out against Islamophobia, “whether it comes from our country or even from our community.”
Recording participation from different cultural communities at its massive rally, the Coalition resonated that all communities must unite to oppose the far-right Modi government “before its fascist, Nazi-inspired ideology causes further damage to religious minorities.”