New York: The Indian diaspora in the US belonging to several organisations showed their solidarity to recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), by holding rallies in cities such as Seattle (WA), Austin (TX), Dublin (OH), Houston (TX), Raleigh (NC).
The rallies were aimed at dispelling the misinformation and myths surrounding the act as well as to counter the planned deliberate propaganda of hate, lies and downright absurdities spread by US-based Pakistanis, supporters of Indian National Congress and other opposition parties.
Seattle rally was held on December 21 at Victor Steinbrueck Park, Austin rally on December 22 near Capitol Building, Houston rally on December 20 at Indian Consulate, Dublin rally on December 22 at Ted Kaltenbach Park, Raleigh on December 22 at Nash Square Park.
Further rallies are being planned in the coming weeks at Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, NYC, DC, Atlanta, San Jose and other locations.
Archana Sunil who is one of the organisers of Seattle rally countering the anti-CAA rally by Indian American Muslim Council and other leftist Organizations at Victor Steinbrueck Park noted, "The anti-CAA rally signs were stating lies about Muslims being discriminated in India, Indian Muslims need to prove their citizenship, Modi being Hitler, CAA and NRC akin to genocide etc, .. they kept shouting, 'azaadi azaadi .. hum azaadi leke rahenge' and 'Jai Hind', but never said, 'Bharata Mata ki Jai'."
She added, "when some of the anti-CAA rallies came to talk to their group, it was mind-boggling to see how much they are misinformed, they just absolutely did not want to talk facts or listen to facts. Our teenage volunteers were so informed and educated on this topic and those who opposed this act... illiteracy on the topic is appalling".
Achalesh Amar, spokesperson for Houston rally in support of CAA under the aegis of Friends of India Society (FISI) said, "The Houstonians came out in big numbers to support the Indian Government decision in bringing CAA to provide relief to oppressed minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists) in neighbouring Islamic countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan."
He added, "Instead of having civil debate based on facts some organisations are bent on subverting any discourse or the truth, by spreading completely absurd lies and what is lost in their discourse is the plight of those who suffered untold sufferings since the partition of India."
To understand the magnitude of the issue, he said, "We need to reflect that in 1947 the percentage of Hindu/Sikh population in Pakistan was nearly 23 percent and today it is about 1.5 percent, similarly, in Bangladesh it was 30 percent Hindus in 1947, now reduced to about 10 percent."
A casual perusal of facts of 1971 Bangladesh war show how Islamist militias killed nearly 3 million Hindus, raped anywhere between 2,00,000 to 3,00,000 almost all Bangladeshi Hindu women, internally displaced an estimated 30 million people and systematically attempted to purge any Hindu influence in Bangladesh.
"How can they not only just brush aside facts but actually invent total lies about it? The US needs to look into their views and the potential dangers they pose to Americans in our own country," he noted.
Venugopal Uppala who is one of the organizers of the rally in support of CAA in Austin, said that the proposal to grant citizenship to those oppressed minorities was proposed by freedom fighters and politicians across many parties since India's independence ( Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru in 1950, Bhupesh Gupta of Communist party in 1964, Gautan Deb of Communist party in 2010, Tarun Gogoi of Congress party from Assam and Prakash Karat of Communist party in 2012), how can anyone say that this is something to do with the BJP and its politics? People with the same mindset and kind of agenda as the oppressors in the Islamic countries are now at the forefront of this anti-CAA rallies and we felt we need to counter their blatant lies.
These ungrateful organizations are spreading such hate against Narendra Modi who is working day and night for all Indians irrespective of their religion, region and political beliefs. In fact, the Modi government declared scholarships to 5 crore students from minority communities when many in the majority are as poor as the poor among the minorities, he said.
Vineet Goel, who is one of the organisers of Dublin Ohio rally said, "We held this rally to counter the fear-mongering of Islamic and leftist organizations about CAA and NRC, their bizarre statements that NRC in combination with CAA is designed to expel Muslims from India. Those who do not have the required paperwork have same challenges whether that person is a Hindu or Muslim and in spite of so many assurances from Modi government that every effort will be made to ease the process for every citizen, these organisations are bent on with the agenda of a 'lie said thousand times will become the truth."
Read also: CAA aims at accepting people not turning them out- Former Delhi HC Judge MC Garg
Arvind Modhini, an organiser for Raleigh, NC rally where over 75 eminent Doctors and Community leaders joined in support of CAA noted how they are pained by the destruction caused by some Muslim groups with the support of Congress party reminding some of them of the partition days they lived through. He said that they came together to extend their support to Narendra Modi and demanded strict punishment to rampaging mobs who destroyed public property and targeted police personnel and not spare the mastermind behind these activities.
Many in social media has also pointed the recent letter from Firoz Bakht Ahmed, Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University in India exhorting Muslims not to fall prey to propaganda noting, "Some people with vested interests are trying to vitiate the peaceful and harmonious fabric of India by frightening the Muslim community from the CAA and NRC Acts... they are instigating, inciting and misguiding Muslims to dump India into the fire of anarchy and civil war and appeal to you all not to get into the clutches of these politicians who want to break India."
Ashok K Karmakar, Chairman of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), USA made the statement, "BHBCUC expresses its gratitude and heartfelt thanks to the Government of India for passing the historic and long overdue Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. While this piece of legislation would help to uphold human rights of the people (Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Sikhs and Parsis) who have been persecuted for their religious beliefs in the countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and have been living an inhuman and uncertain life in India for many many years, we also believe, the law and constitution of India will protect the rights of many Muslims from those countries and elsewhere who are being persecuted for their political opinions. Thanks again to the Indian government and the great people of the greatest democracy."
More rallies are being planned at several US cities in the coming days.
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