NO CELEBRATION OF HATE IN TIMES SQUARE
PROTEST IN TIMES SQUARE, NYC
6:30 pm Wednesday Aug 5th
Hindus for Human Rights will be joining our colleagues in a protest at Times Square at 6:30 pm on Wednesday August 5th. Our message will be, “No celebration of hate in Times Square. The Lord Rama of Hindutva is not our Lord Ram.”
We ask all our East coast supporters to join this protest. Of course, wear masks and do the best to socially distance. Write to us at info@hindusforhumanrights.org if you have questions.
”Jai Shree Ram, The Murder Cry of Hindu Nationalists”
Along with CAFI, HfHR created this video to show the world who is the Lord Rama of Hindutva adherents:
PRESS CONFERENCE, AUGUST 3rd
On August 3rd at 12 noon ET, HfHR, Coalition Against Fascism in India, Indian American Muslim Council, Global Indian Progressive Association, and India Civil Watch International collaborated on this virtual press conference:
below are the transcripts of the four presentations:
1) Minhaj Khan, Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) and Coalition Against Fascism in India (CAFI)
IAMC join hands with its coalition partners in protest of the 'Unholy Display of Religious Bigotry and Fascism by Hindu Nationalists in America.
It has long been evident that the religious bigotry and hate spouted by the Hindutva ideology, which is behind mass violence and human rights abuses in India, has taken firm root in America. Hindu nationalists (a.k.a. Hindutva supremacists) are now set to make a naked display of their crimes in India in the heart of New York City. They are planning on doing so by celebrating in Times Square - the criminal destruction of the historic Babri Mosque in India and the death and destruction that ensued all over India.
To explain it in simple words, I can easily relate the 'Hindutva forces' in India as the equivalents of "Ku Klux Klan" in the United States.
Hindutva supremacists in the US have hired advertising space on billboards in Times Square to project images of Hindu deity Lord Ram and 3D pictures of the upcoming Ram temple that will be built on the ruins of the Babri Mosque. Planned for August 05, 2020 this celebration of bigotry and hate is not only an affront to our values as Americans, but emboldens Hindu nationalists to advance their supremacist ideas in the US. It also legitimizes their efforts to use their position on American soil to promote a violent and supremacist agenda in India. Advocating for their own "religious freedom" in the US, these bigots are doing everything possible to turn India a majoritarian Hindu state that relegates Muslims, Christians, and other religious minorities to the status of second-class citizens.
We are here to protest against this celebration of religious bigotry and the advancement of supremacist ideas in the US. People of conscience need to protest because this is not a celebration of faith but a celebration of virulent hate and bigotry.
I want to reiterate that the planned advertisements in Times Square that celebrate the Ram temple construction in Ayodhya are effectively a celebration of the destruction of the Babri Mosque on whose ruins the temple is going to be built. Free speech cannot be allowed as an excuse to celebrate bigotry and advance hate in the US and not certainly in a beautiful and most diverse place on earth like NY City.
I want to remind that the ideology that was the genesis of the campaign to destroy the Babri Mosque and construct a Ram temple in its place has claimed thousands of lives in India and continues to be the driving force behind attacks on minorities and their places of worship. The billboards are therefore, an affront to our cherished values of religious freedom and respect for human rights, as they will showcase the "success" of this violent campaign and that has been responsible for untold human suffering.
The current Hindu nationalist prime minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, came to power riding on the hatred and Islamophobia that was perpetrated for decades to demolish the mosque. The salutation "Jai Shri Ram" (Victory to Lord Ram) has been weaponized by the Hindu nationalists and Muslims and Christians have been lynched while being forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram."
Unless the international community voices its opposition to Hindutva, millions of people in India will suffer persecution and repression with their lives at risk and livelihoods severely constrained.
Thank you for your time!
2) Dr. Manish Madan, Global Indian Progressive Alliance (GIPA)
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, representing the Indian American diaspora belonging to all faiths, speak today in one voice against making a public spectacle of displaying “‘Jai Shri Ram’ including Lord Ram's portraits and videos, 3D portraits of the temple's design and architecture” across several billboards at the Times Square, NY – an initiative led by the American India Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s schedule of laying the foundation stone for construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, on August 5, 2020.
At the outset, we categorically state our respect and appreciation of all faiths, religions, and/or religious sentiments that includes its display at the place of worship; however, as it stands – this initiative is not only devoid of the recognition of the deeply troubling historical context, but it also usurps the religious and moral sentiments of many Indian-Americans spread globally, including reinforcing Saffron-Supremacy on U.S. soil – which is fundamentally against America’s secular character that we all promise to uphold. Most importantly, it also alienates the Muslim community whose members were killed in disproportionate numbers in one of the worst communal violence seen in India, also known as Babri Masjid riots at Ayodhya (1992).
Our statement is not to challenge the Supreme Court of India’s verdict on the land allotment, but as members of the community trying to build a morally just society, we, the global Indian diaspora feel compelled to speak out against the tone deaf nature of planned commemoration at Times Square.
Next, the marked day of celebrations also coincides with the Indian government’s move to abrogate Article370 (that defined constitutionally accepted relationship between the State of Jammu & Kashmir and India) which, as our recent history tells us now, eventually resulted in a humanitarian crisis of disproportionate size at manifold levels (communication lockdown, political persecution, loss of businesses, and house arrest of several opposition leaders in the State of J&K). While it is also our position to respect India’s Republic and her parliamentary system of conducting its internal business, however, it will be a remiss if we did not express our deep pain and anguish for the manner in which the Hindutva-led extreme far-right government’s actions left many members in the State voiceless, stripped of their human dignity and compromised the democratic values of the great country.
We offer this progressive narrative shared by a large cross-section of the global Indian diaspora and therefore ask the members of the AIPAC and the officials of City of New York to recognize that the planned celebration on a publicly owned space is contrary to not only all of our shared values but also inadvertently celebrates violence, hatred, polarization amidst loss of innocent lives after decades of communal divide, and in fact legitimization of a Hindutva-agenda, a form of religious supremacy which is neither representative of the world’s oldest religion, Hinduism, nor does it represent the sentiments of many Indian Americans who indeed practice Hinduism.
In these times marked by global suffering caused by COVID19 Pandemic, we insist that the AIPAC members withdraw their planned celebrations and also strongly urge the City of New York to disallow the use of their space for said purpose, in good faith.
We ask the organizers to instead spend the massive funds used to display said advertisement advocating for the development of India, for the millions of people living under the poverty line who cannot afford three square meals, achieve decent education, or secure good health care. We invite them for a conversation to develop an inclusive, harmonious, united, developed and above all progressive India.
In conclusion, the AIPAC initiative, if continued without the recognition of the larger Indian diaspora’s reservations outlined above, will be a punch in the gut for many Indian Americans and the inclusive, secular, and progressive values that we all stand for.
We call upon the organizers to immediately halt this commemoration.
© Global Indian Progressive Alliance (GIPA)
3) Sunita Viswanath, Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) and Coalition Against Fascism in India (CAFI)
I am Sunita, one of the cofounders of Hindus for Human Rights, a US-based organization of Hindus devoted to the human rights of all. We are also members of Coalition of Fascism in India.
As a Hindu of conscience, the display that is planned by the group AIPAC in Times Square on August 5th -- a streaming of the Bhumi Puja or groundbreaking ceremony for the planned Ram Temple in Ayodhya -- both infuriates and horrifies me, and devastates me.
The images of the Hindu mobs tearing down a 500 year old mosque in a bloodthirsty frenzy back in 1992, until there was absolutely nothing left of it, are my first visual memory of the horror of Hindutva or Hindu Nationalism.
Many Americans would wonder, why is so much uproar over a faith community celebrating their faith. Well, I am of the same faith as the people projecting these images on August 5th, and I can tell you -- this is absolutely not a celebration of faith. It has nothing to do with faith. This is not my Hinduism, which teaches love and compassion, and the oneness of us all.
The government of Narendra Modi claims to be secular, but is destroying our democracy and is fast taking India towards becoming a Hindu theocracy -- what is called a Hindu Rashtra. Some would say this case of the Babri Masjid is proof that we are already there.
The Supreme Court last year announced a verdict on this case -- they said that the demolition of the mosque was illegal and that all those who participated should be brought to justice -- not that anyone has -- but in the same breath the Supreme Court gave permission for the Rama Temple to be built on the same site. And this they call Justice.
August 5th is not a holy day for Hindus. No -- the choice of August 5th rubs chilli powder into the deep wounds of the people of Kashmir and all of us who seek justice and peace. It was Aug 5th one year ago that the same Indian government put Kashmir under lockdown overnight, massively increased military presence, shut down the internet and phone for everyone (it is still not fully restored), imprisoned all the elected officials of Kashmir, and took away Kashmir’s limited autonomy. This past year has been nothing short of hell for the people of Kashmir, who have had to deal with aloof this in the midst of a crippling pandemic.
As we stated in a letter to Mayor Bill De Blasio, these projections in Times Square not a celebration of faith. It is the “triumphant dance of Hindu nationalists on the graves of India’s lynched Muslims.”
Many of these events are taking place in India -- worlds away. But these displays are taking place in the heart of New York City.
It is imperative that our Mayor and all our elected officials are aware -- have their eyes wide open -- Hindu Supremacists are here in our inclusive city, with bags of money to spend on spreading their vicious and Islamophobic ideology, disguised as faith.
I spoke a few days ago to a Hindu priest in Ayodhya, a devout man whose small and humble temple to none other than Lord Rama, is adjacent to the site of the demolished mosque and the planned magnificent temple to Lord Ram. This priest told me that he will not be lighting lamps in his temple on August 5th. This is his act of personal protest.
And I add my protest to his. I want Indians, especially Indian minorities, Indian Muslims and Dalits, and Indians who want their democracy back, to know that the Hindu nationalists do not represent all of us. To Hindu Nationalists, to the Indian Government, to this group AIPAC that is behind the billboards and to the evil people who commit murder and spread hate in the name of Lord Rama, I say NOT IN MY NAME.
4) Raja Swamy, India Civil Watch (ICW) and Coalition Against Fascism in India (CAFI)
The “Ram Temple” circus organized by the Hindutva movement in the USA is a condemnable attempt to cover up two historic crimes by the Hindutva movement - the Hindu supremacist, ultranationalist, fascistic regime now in power in India.
The first crime was committed on December 6th, 1992 when tens of thousands of Hindutva militia – organized from across the country – descended upon the more than 400 year old Babri Masjid (Mosque), and destroyed it. India’s Supreme Court in November 2019 labeled this act “an egregious violation of the rule of law.” The Babri Masjid’s demolition – openly celebrated as a “victory against Muslims” was a crime against the Indian Constitution and the very idea of India as a secular nation. It was followed by a series of organized pogroms in which thousands of Muslims were massacred by mobs of men, often with police protection or support. It is on the ruins of the Babri Masjid that the RSS and its most prominent member, Mr. Modi, seek to build what they call a “Ram temple,” which they view as a symbolic milestone on the path toward Hindu Rashtra, the Hindu Supremacist nation they seek to erect on the ruins of India’s Constitution and secular democracy.
Anybody participating in the justification of this crime is no less than an accomplice. The celebrants gathering on August 5th, are not doing so as an act of religious faith, but defiantly declaring that the era of Hindu supremacy is here. They are gathering to celebrate the murder of thousands, the destruction of India’s complex and composite history, and showing their collective support for the ongoing project to build a supremacist Hindu nation - organized attacks and pogroms against Muslims in India, the most egregious of them being the Gujarat carnage of 2002 when Mr. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat - in which more than 2,000 Muslim men, women and children were killed, thousands raped and brutalized, and an entire community was terrorized, humiliated, dispossessed and pauperized. Even as the current Modi government responds to the pleas of suffering workers and farmers with bullets and police repression, his delirious supporters in America pretend to celebrate culture while supporting the destruction of an entire society.
August 5th also happens to be the first anniversary of the unilateral abrogation by the Modi regime, of Article 370 and the imposition of a harsh new regime of Indian military control, repression, and outright brutality on the people of Kashmir. Thereafter, the Modi regime signaled to the world that it was committed to terrorizing the entire Muslim civilian population of Kashmir into submission, escalating the ongoing assault on the lives and dignity of the Kashmiri people, living under a suffocating siege for more than a year now.
We unequivocally condemn the organizers of this garish celebration of murder and mayhem, and stand for the defense of a secular India and its Constitutional guarantees and rights. Let the American people take note that those who are organizing such a show in multicultural New York – a city with millions of people of every racial, religious, and ethnic background - hide cynically behind the garb of culture and faith, while promoting a supremacist terrorist movement that seeks the destruction of the very idea of pluralism and mutual respect.
