Massive demonstration against Modi outside the Madison Square Garden

New York City: When Modi was addressing to Indians at Madison Sqare Garden in New York City, there was a quite different scene outside the Madison Square. People in large number were shouting slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi carrying in their hands placards, banners and posters which read ‘Modi India’s Prime Murdrer’  ‘No More Hate No More Killing’ Wanted Narendra Modi- For Crime against Humanity. Protesters arrived in New York City from New Jersey, Baltimore, Washington DC, and Philadelphia by chartered buses to participate in the demonstration. A broad coalition of organizations and individuals under the umbrella Alliance for Justice and Accountability organized this massive demonstration outside the Madison Square Garden to register their protest against India’s PM Narendra Modi, as well to protest against India’s descent into intolerance, religious repression and economic exploitation of the poor. According to the  Sunday  demonstration organizers, their approach to this goal is twofold:  First, by refusing to allow the thousands killed, raped and displaced by the Gujarat massacres be forgotten; they are calling for him, along with other government and police officials implicated in the events of 2002, to be made accountable for crimes against humanity.  Secondly, they seek to highlight widespread concerns about the neoliberal development program itself as a flawed model with a poor track record for India. The organizers pointed out that “The so-called Gujarat model is based on increased privatization that enriches tiny elite while relying on the disenfranchisement of the poor and the marginalized, including a large cross-section of Dalit, tribal, farmers and the urban poor,” says Kaleem Kawaja, one of the organizers.  Organizers also emphasize that their objections are not personal or limited to Modi as an individual, but rather to the ideology associated with the BJP and the Hindutva organizations collectively known as the Sangh Parivar. The Alliance for Justice and Accountability is a tri-State area coalition of a diverse range of Indian/South Asian organizations and individuals. “Modi won the Indian election with a paltry 30% of the popular vote. We are the 70%!” said Robindra Deb, a key AJA organizer of protest on September 28. “Let’s ensure the world knows that the people celebrating Modi do not represent the Indian American diaspora. We cannot let hateful ideologies be our values,” said Sonia Joseph, an organizer with SASI in NYC. Modi’s previously planned visit to New York City in 2005 had to be cancelled when his entry was banned by the State Department under the International Religious Freedom Act for his “egregious violations of religious freedom.” Beyond the pogroms of Gujarat in 2002, Modi’s tenure as Chief Minister was marked by a state policy of extra-judicial killings and illegal detention of hundreds of youth, mainly from the minorities. The Alliance for Justice and Accountability also addressed a press conference ahead of its protest outside the Madison Square Garden.   Muslim Mirror