ByM. Ghazali Khan
London:
Except that there was no Delhi police to harass and intimidate the protesters,
the vicinity of Downing Street – where the official residence of British Prime
Minister is – today briefly presented the scene of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh where
thousands of diasporic Indians representing various faiths and ethnicities
assembled to march to Indian High Commission to protest against the ignoble CAA
and NRC.
For more
than an hour speakers after speakers addressed the gathering, paused by the
chants of same slogans as raised by Shaheen Bagh protesters like, for example,
‘Ham kia chate? Azadi’; ‘Hai jan se piari Azadi’; ‘ham cheen ke leN ge Azadi’;
‘Tum kuch bhi karlo, Azadi’; ‘Modi ham se darta hai police ko samne lata hai’;
‘Jamia tum aage badho, ham tumhare saath haiN’; ‘AMU tum aage badho, ham
tumhare saath haiN’; ‘Modi-Shah you can’t hide; NRC is genocide’.
Holding
The
marchers read and repeated the preamble of the Indian constitution and
dispersed after singing India
Those who
addressed the gathering included Labour MP from Ilford South, Sam Tarry who
expressed deep concern at the growing fascism in India
under Narendra Modi and said that this situation must be causing lot of hurt to
the souls of founding fathers of modern India
The
demonstration was organised by human rights body South Asia Solidarity Group
(SASG) and supported by Co-ordinating Committee of Malayali Muslims, SOAS India
Society, Tamil People in the UK, Indian Workers Association (GB), Indian Muslim
Federation (UK), Federation of Redbridge Muslim Organisations (FORMO), Kashmir
Solidarity Movement, South Asian Students Against Fascism, Newham Muslim
Alliance, and Ghadar International.
Five Labour
MPs who were unable to attend the rally expressed their support in messages
sent to SASG: “Some will characterise these movements for democracy as
“anti-India”. But this is part of a global fight against the far-right— whether
in India , Hungary , Brazil ,
or here in the UK
Some MPs
have written letters to British Foreign office and Indian High Commissioner in London expressing their concern on the continuously
deteriorating political situation in India
In a
special message veteran anti-war activist and writer Tariq Ali said, “Thank you
Modi for uniting Hindus and Muslims.”
The
organisers have also written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
expressing, “our outrage at India India
The letter
reads further, “The events of the last six months have been particularly
disturbing. First the revoking of Article 370, the further militarisation of
Kashmir, India’s only Muslim majority state, which was already the most highly
militarised zone in the world, the imprisonment of leaders, continual curfews,
torture, including torture of minors, and the imposition of a lock down
on internet services while outsiders including your corporate friends
such as Reliance’s Ambani buy up land in the Kashmir valley.
This was
followed by the handing over of the land on which the iconic Babri Masjid had
stood for some 500 years, before it was demolished by RSS stormtroopers, to a
Hindu right-wing organisation for the construction of a massive Ram temple.”
Highlighting
BJP led government’s historical anti-Muslim hatred the letter reads, “We note
with alarm that historically mass disenfranchisement of a targeted minority has
been closely followed by ethnic cleansing and genocide.” The letter strongly
condemns the CAA and NRC and urges Mr Modi “to listen to the voices of mass
democratic united protest in India