August 28, 2020

Namaste Dear Friend,
 

The August month of historic Indian independence has brought with it a powerful bevy of emotions. We have been, in turns, joyous, angry, grieving, reflective. Gandhi ji's historic words now give us pause: "Do or Die," he proclaimed on August 8, 1942. "We shall either free India or die in the attempt." What, then, is true, exhilarated, and free India? What is independence? In barely more than 20 years — not even enough time for a child to truly grow up into the world — it will have been a full century of Indian independence, and where do we find ourselves?

On August 5, for example, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the ceremonial cornerstone & prayed over a new Hindu Ram temple at the site of the destroyed Babri Mosque in Ayodhya — a site of destruction that has caused unimaginable sectarian violence and grief across India. This was accompanied by the garish mounting of a massive billboard in Times Square celebrating the new Hindu temple and Lord Ram. In a beautiful interview with HfHR co-founder Sunita Viswanath and active HfHR member Vijayendra Kadalabal, Ayodhya Hindu priest Yugal Kishore Shastri put it simply: 

"Lord Ram is very personal to me. He lives in you and me, and doesn’t need a temple. My Ram cares about the deprived, the hungry, the oppressed.  The government doesn’t care about Lord Ram. Their Ram only thinks about the privileged, about money. But they cannot take away my Ram."

HfHR engaged in further forms of protest against the temple and billboard. On August 3, HfHR, Coalition Against Fascism in India (CAFI), Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Global Indian Progressive Association (GIPA), and India Civil Watch International (ICWI) collaborated on a virtual press conference opposing the upcoming temple celebration. On August 5, many members of HfHR joined our colleagues in a protest at Times Square. The core message of our protest stood firm: No Celebration Of Hate In Times Square. The Lord Rama Of Hindutva Is Not Our Lord Ram.

On August 19, HfHR, GIPA, IAMC, Students Against Hindutva Ideology (SAHI), Voices Against Fascism in India (VAFI), Ambedkar International Center (AIC), and Chain Fasting for Peace came together in strong diaspora coalition to stand in solidarity with lawyer and human rights activist Prashant Bhushan, who the Indian Supreme Court was attempting to convict on a contempt-of-court charge over two tweets. After a joint press conference, our coalition initiated an international chain-fasting movement beginning August 22. Ultimately, Prashant Bhushan's case is a dramatic example of an increasingly repressive federal government looking to silence free voices, and we will continue to stand by Mr. Bhushan as long as need be.

 
As always, we thank all of our incredible partners who have helped us get where we are & do the work we do: Coalition Against Fascism in India (CAFI), Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Global Indian Progressive Association (GIPA), India Civil Watch International (ICWI), Students Against Hindutva Ideology (SAHI), Voices Against Fascism in India (VAFI), Ambedkar International Center (AIC), and Chain Fasting for Peace.

All of these amassing and ultimately alarming events made it so that on the 73rd anniversary of Indian independence, August 15, we felt our pride and joy in our heritage dampened by the devastating events surrounding us. HfHR co-founder Raju Rajagopal wrote a striking blog asking the litany of questions that were on all of our minds: 

"What awaits India at the end of the COVID tunnel, in its 74th year?

Will Indians be more caring and gentler and take a civic and moral lesson from the virus, which did not care whether you were rich or poor; Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or Dalit? 

Will we seize the new windows of opportunities to work towards eliminating casteism and communalism from our midst, and call for an end to the surging violence against Muslims and other minorities?

Will we recognize the immorality of locking up an entire people in Kashmir in pursuit of the jingoistic nationalist goal of a few? 

Will we decry the arrests and harassment of scores of citizens for merely exercising their right to question the government and the courts?"

Ultimately, Raju could not answer these interrogations for sure, but he had one plea: Make Yourself Part Of India’s Second Struggle For Independence.

What does this mean? At HfHR, we will continue to believe fiercely that the concepts of independence & liberty are fundamentally aspirational, meaning we will never stop fighting for a fuller freedom. As Simone Weil, the prolific French philosopher and mystic, wrote in Gravity and Grace: "If we turn our mind toward the good, it is impossible that little by little the whole soul will not be attracted thereto in spite of itself." Perhaps if we all continue to devote ourselves to the continual betterment of our beloved India and its peoples, not only our individual souls, but the soul of India itself will find itself drawn to this very goodness. We believe so, and we hope you will join us. (We also promise to continue pushing the Biden-Harris campaign in the U.S. to stay true to progressive values by actually speaking out against the humanitarian violations in India and reformulating their concrete Indian foreign policy). Below are tangible ways you can take direct action for Indian relief RIGHT NOW.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: please donate ASAP to RIGHTS, a Kerala-based Dalit rights NGO that HfHR has long supported. In the wake of the floods that have recently devastated Kerala — already under duress because of COVID — RIGHTS has been working tremendously hard to provide relief. RIGHTS has also recently launched Bhim Online, an online education program that is in urgent need of funding. Please contribute to RIGHTS through HfHR by indicating that you would like your donations to go to the families aided by RIGHTS. We are trying to get to $1000, and if even a fraction of our lovely supporters contribute your pocket change, the money you might spend on your next coffee, chai, (you get the idea), we know we can hit our goal in no time!!!

• Join the Monday, September 7 virtual meeting of Amnesty International-Bay Area (Houston) at 6:30 pm CDT. HfHR's own co-founder, Raju Rajagopal, will be the guest speaker, giving a presentation entitled: “Hindus for Human Rights: Call to Action”.

 As Always, Get Involved. We would love to hear from you — write to us. Volunteer. Start a chapter. Hold a birthday fundraiser and raise both awareness and money!

 And of course, make a donation!

We work to achieve justice and peace through compassion. We choose to have hope, and to work hard to turn our hopes for that better world into a reality. Please join us, strengthening the movement and helping us to work towards achieving lokasamgraha (the well-being of all).

—HfHR Board & Program and Communications Manager,
Deepak, Giri, Punya, Raju, Sunil, Sunita, Urmila