What: Protest Against Persecution of Minorities, Transnational Repression & India’s authoritarian descent under Modi’s rule.
Who: Reclaiming Democracy in India
Where: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 1255 Hempstead Turnpike, Uniondale, NY
When: Sunday, September 22nd, 10 AM
Media Contact
Safa Ahmed
media.info@iamc.com
New York (Sept 19, 2024) – Reclaiming Democracy in India, an interfaith coalition of NYC-based and international human rights organizations, will hold a protest against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi outside Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum, where Modi is scheduled to speak on Sunday.
The protest aims to draw attention to the Modi regime’s assault on India’s democracy, the persecution of religious minorities and marginalized groups, as well as the broader implications for the safety, well-being, and freedoms of Indian minorities and critics living in the United States. The coalition intends to demonstrate that Modi and his Hindu nationalist agenda do not represent the Indian American diaspora and run antithetical to US democratic values.
Among the speakers will be:
Zohran Mamdani, New York State Assemblymember 36th district
Mohammed Jawad, President, Indian American Muslim Council
Sana Qutubuddin, Executive Director of No Separate Justice
Afshan Khwaja, President, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)-NY
Japneet Singh, Founder, New York Sikh Council
Imam Saffet Catovic, UN Director, Justice for All
Hala Ubaid, Muslims for Progress
Imran Pasha, President of Federation of American Indian Relief
Minhaj Khan, Indian-American Activist
Pieter Friedrich, Journalist and Expert on Hindu Nationalism
Sonia Joseph, South Asia Solidarity Network
Japreet and Fauzia Kazi, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM)
Speakers will discuss:
- How Modi’s return to office for a third term in June has led to a surge in anti-Muslim violence, including lynchings, the bulldozing of Muslim properties, and the implementation of Islamophobic policies. His reference to Muslims as “infiltrators” during the recent election cycle has further inflamed this wave of political hate-speech and violence.
- How Modi still has yet to face accountability for enabling a massive anti-Muslim pogrom in 2002, a pogrom that led him to being banned from setting foot in the United States for nearly a decade.
- How Modi’s political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, partners with Hindu nationalist paramilitary organizations to persecute Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis, and other Indian minorities.
Speakers will connect the Modi regime’s overseas authoritarianism to its intensifying campaign of transnational repression, which includes:
- two assassination attempts on North American soil last year, one of them claiming the life of a Canadian activist known to be critical of the Modi regime.
- Transnational disinformation campaigns and death threats to diasporic critics.
- revoking overseas citizenship of American critics of the Modi regime.
- Harassing and detaining Indian family members of American citizens.
The protest will also highlight the findings of a recently completed report surveying nearly 1,000 Indian Americans, which revealed:
- more than 80% of Indian American Muslim respondents have faced Islamophobic discrimination from peers in the diaspora,
- 70% of respondents experienced biased treatment from colleagues.
- 48% of survey respondents reported facing harassment and discrimination on Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn
- The overwhelming majority of respondents linked this rise in discrimination to Hindu nationalist sentiment within the diaspora.
With PM Modi slated to address more than 10,000 at the Nassau Coliseum on Sunday, September 22, the coalition organizing the protest feels it imperative to inform the broader public of the international dangers posed by Indian PM Modi and that he and Hindu nationalists, more broadly, do not speak for the Indian diaspora.