Aljazeera reported that Hundreds of Indian Americans of different faiths rallied outside Indian consulates in major American cities on Friday evening to protest against the recent violence in Delhi that has killed at least 42 people, and injured hundreds.
Rallies were held in New York, Washington, Chicago and other cities to protest against the recent anti-Muslim violence in Indian capital New Delhi.
The protesters demanded repeal of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act that had sparked violence against minorities in the country. They also highlighted the BJP government’s “fascist” ideologies targeting religious minorities especially Muslims.
Outside the Indian consulate in New York on Friday evening, protesters gathered chanting “Shame!” at officials as they tried to exit or enter the building.
“We are exhausted,” Sana Qutubuddin, an activist with Alliance for Justice and Accountability – a coalition of South Asian groups that organised Friday’s rally alongside the Indian American Muslim Council, South Asia Solidarity Initiative, and Equality Labs – said during her speech at the rally.
Violence erupted in the Indian capital on Monday, leading to a three-day-long rampage, with Hindu mobs attacking Muslim homes, shops and mosques. The attacks were carried out on protesters, who have been rallying against a new citizenship law, after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra threatened peaceful sit-ins would be removed from the streets.
The BJP’s ideological parent is Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – a Hindu paramilitary supremacist organisation inspired by European fascists and Nazis – which has called for India, an officially secular nation, to be declared a Hindu Rashtra or nation of Hindus.
