By TCN News
London: One of Britain’s key activist organisations, South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG), has applauded the courage of the more than 40 writers, to date, who have returned literary awards from India’s prestigious Sahitya Academy in protest against the attacks on freedom of expression and the killings, harassment and intimidation of members of minority communities and Dalits.
Condemning the burning to death of two Dalit children in Haryana as an exercise in “barbarism and a naked display of brutal upper-caste Hindu supremacy” a spokesperson for SASG said in a statement issued today: “In 18 months of BJP rule, anti-minority and anti-Dalit violence has escalated to a horrifying degree. This had been feared before Narendra Modi came to power. What else could have been expected from a man who compared the genocidal killings of Muslims in Gujarat to the death of a puppy run over by a car? Now his cabinet colleague, the upper-caste Hindu supremacist General VK Singh is likening the burning to death of Dalit children to the stoning of a dog on the street—what could be more obscene?”
SASG demanded that VK Singh be dismissed from the cabinet immediately along with the two other ministers who face rape charges, Sanjeev Baliyan and Nihalchand Meghwal.
SASG has also expressed disappointment at the reported decision by Urdu poet Munawwar Rana to take back his Sahitya Academy award. Mr Rana had earlier returned his award during a live TV show in the presence of several literary figures and BJP spokesman Sambit Patra.
SASG is one of the organisations participating in a protest against Narendra Modi being held on 12 November outside 10 Downing Street.
SASG is also organising a “secular celebration” programme “Reclaim Diwali”.
“Burn the demons of Hindutva fascism, Religious hatred, patriarchy, caste…” reads the pamphlet distributed by SASG.
The organisation has also launched a “Name and Shame” programme in which it intends to list British MPs who have been cosying up to Narendra Modi and have been actively campaigning for a mass murderer to be welcomed on British soil.