A statement by the Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia Denouncing the Celebration of Ram Janmabhoomi on August 5th at Times Square, NYC:
While the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, the BJP-led government is forging ahead with its dangerous agenda of destroying the syncretic culture of India and compromising the Indian Constitution itself.
An outlandish celebration of the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Ram Janmabhoomi temple will be on display all day on August 5th in Times Square, NYC, with much extravagance and pomp and show. A section of the Indian diaspora who are transfixed by the BJP-led government have paid huge amounts of money to project the phrase “Jai Shri Ram” in both Hindi and English, portraits and videos of the Hindu deity Ram, 3D portraits of the temple’s design and architecture as well as pictures of Modi laying the foundation stone on several of the iconic Times Square LED screens. This exhortation of a mythical past is a diversion from the real economic and social marginalization of the vast majority of Indian people. The crass spectacle of Hindutva ideology also coincides – deliberately, no doubt – with the first anniversary of the abrogation of the constitutional guarantees of Kashmir’s special status.
The Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia denounces the impending display of economic and political power designed to belittle the people of Kashmir and India’s religious minorities by the Hindutva forces in the US. We stand firmly and proudly with people across the globe who dare to dream of a more just and equitable world.
Sign Petition to Stop the Celebration of Hatred at Times Square, New York City:
https://indiacivilwatch.org/petitions/stop-celebration-of-hatred-in-new-york-times-square/
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