The multi-faith protesters highlighted the way Modi’s rule has normalised a fiery brand of Hindu supremacy and facilitated violence against ethnic and religious minorities in India
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – A group of multi-faith activists in the United States held a protest against the New York visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, September 22.
Protesters gathered at Long Island where Prime Minister Modi addressed a gathering of the Indian American community. The “Modi and US” event with the theme “unity in diversity” was sponsored by the nonprofit Indo-American Community of USA and held in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The multi-faith protesters, represented by Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian activists, highlighted the way Modi’s rule has normalised a fiery brand of Hindu supremacy, referred to as “Hindutva,” or “Hinduness,” and facilitated violence against ethnic and religious minorities in India, media reports reaching here said.
Activists of various faith backgrounds hold signs protesting Narendra Modi, outside the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Photo by Rohan Narine/Hindus for Human Rights)
“Modi, Modi, you can’t hide, you’re responsible for genocide,” some chanted, referring to the deadly 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, that human rights groups have linked to the Modi administration that governed the state at that time.
Modi congratulated the diaspora for its “unparalleled” skills, talent and commitment to bettering the American nation, including, to uproarious applause, Indian American representation at this year’s T20 cricket world cup.
However, little to no references to Hinduism, let alone a “Hindu rashtra,” or Hindu nation, were made by Modi during his address, according to media reports.
Signs with “MODI=HITLER, RSS=KKK,” referring to the Hindu nationalist paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh seen as formative to Modi’s rise, and “Hindu Dharma is Justice for All,” were seen among the crowd, according to the report.
A separate protest of almost 300 Sikhs advocated for the creation of Khalistan, a would-be break-away Sikh nation-state in India.
Attendees prepare to enter the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum before the “Modi and US” event in Uniondale, N.Y., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)
There, some took turns using shoes to hit a life-size effigy of Modi.
Some protesters held signs with the slogan “Modi: Face of Hindu Terror.” The Modi government has killed several Sikh and Kashmiri separatist activists, whom they label terrorists and extremists, including fatally shooting a Sikh activist in Canada and attempting to assassinate a Sikh activist, an American citizen, in the US.
“I don’t agree with the idea of Khalistan for many reasons, although I support everyone’s democratic right to demand self-determination, but I don’t support religious nationalist movements,” said Pieter Friedrich, an anti-Hindutva activist and a journalist who was part of the multifaith Reclaim Indian Democracy side of the protest.
A bus of around 50 volunteers from New Jersey was unable to reach the protest site due to a blockage on the turnpike.
A vandalized sign at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu temple in Melville, N.Y. (Photo courtesy BAPS)
“But the struggle against Hindutva will be successful when we have a full unified intermingling of all communities, across all religions,” Friedrich said.
Religious leaders, like Imam Saffet Catovic from prominent religious freedom organisation Justice for All, called Modi’s leadership fascist and modelled on Adolf Hitler’s regime.
“There is no democracy without the protection of human rights of the minorities of that land,” he said, drawing from his experience with genocide in his home country of Bosnia.
Another activist spoke about the plight of Christians in Manipur, where churches have been attacked and more than 60,000 people displaced after hundreds were killed in mob violence this year.
Another spoke about Modi’s role in the Gujarat riots, which prompted the US government to ban Modi from visiting the US at that time.
Hemlata, left, and Arvind Bhakta with their daughter, Darshna, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)
Friedrich, an invited inaugural speaker on behalf of the Federation of Indian American Christians of North America, centred his speech on the “audacity” of Modi’s “rockstar reception,” and the “insult to injury” he adds coming to speak three months after and just miles away from where an Indian national was indicted for the attempted murder of a US citizen.
“From every angle, from the Sikh angle, the Khalistani angle, from the secular, pluralistic angle, we have people who are deeply, deeply offended and wounded as American citizens,” Friedrich was quoted by RNS as saying.
“That India under Modi would have the audacity to think that they can strip away our legal constitutional rights to freedom of expression here, not in India, but here in America,” he said.
