Caravan News

WASHINGTON- Thousands of Indian Americans along with American civil rights activists will mark January 26, India’s Republic Day as a “Day of Action” with protests in 30 cities across the US (United States).

The protests, organized under the banner “Coalition to Stop Genocide,” come in the wake of the Indian government’s relentless undermining of India’s pluralist and secular Constitution.

The protests are intended to call on Congress as well as the Trump administration to censure India for passing the discriminatory “Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” and its continuing attacks on religious minorities and the caste oppressed. The human rights crisis in India has reached a boiling point with Genocide Watch issuing a formal genocide alert for India on January 7, 2020, in the wake of the passage of the CAA.

The CAA applies a religion based criteria to grant citizenship to immigrants. In combination with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) the CAA lays the legal foundation to potentially denaturalize millions of people who have been Indians for generations. Detention centers being built across India are explicit proof of the government’s intent, given its ideology of Hindu nationalism and its abysmal track record on human rights and religious freedom.

The participating organizations and individuals in this international campaign seek to urge the US State Department to heed the recommendation of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom and impose sanctions on India’s Home Minister Amit Shah. The rallies are intended to also urge the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to include India in the list of 10 countries guilty of severe religious freedom violations.

• WHAT – Rally to call for US censure of India for its attacks on religious minorities
• WHEN – Sunday, January 26, 2020 11:00 AM Pacific Time
• WHERE – Indian Missions in the US: New York, Washington DC, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco | Other Cities : Seattle, Austin, Detroit, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Denver, Minneapolis, Los Angeles
• WHY?
  To protest and condemn the rising fascism and police brutality in India.
  To petition and demand the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India.
  To demand a withdrawal of the National Registry of Citizenship (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) in India.
  To safeguard India’s Constitution and civil liberties.

“The Hindutva brigade that is currently ruling India has grossly underestimated the resolve of millions of Indians to safeguard their country from hate and bigotry,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Coalition member from Equality Labs. “The time to stop a genocide is before it starts,” she added.

“We will commemorate January 26 as a day of resolve and action to demonstrate solidarity with the anti-CAA movement in India,” said Dr. Shaik Ubaid, a coalition member. “The threat of ethnic cleansing of millions of Indian Muslims needs to be recognized by the international community as one of the top human rights issues in the world,” added Dr. Ubaid.

“A global resistance is rising to hold the Modi administration accountable for its gross violations of human rights and religious freedom, and for leading India down the path of fascism,” said Mr. Syed Ali a Coalition member from the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).