The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization of American Muslims, Tuesday called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate an alleged bias-motivated assault on those protesting against the persecution of religious minorities and caste discrimination in India at La Palma Park in Anaheim, California.
In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said: "Every American has the right to peaceful protest without the threat of violence and intimidation based on their race, faith or national origin. We call on local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate this reportedly bias-motivated attack and to consider bringing hate crime charges against the alleged perpetrators."
The Indian American Muslim Council, a leading civil advocacy group of the Indian Muslims in America, strongly condemned "the Hindu right wing attack on Indian-American protestors who were protesting against the persecution of religious minorities in India at La Palma Park."
Earlier Tuesday, CAIR's New jersey chapter joined the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) in condemning the use of a bulldozer at the India Independence Day parade this year.
The bulldozer, which has become a symbol of Muslim home demolitions in India, was decorated with the images of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Provincial Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, both of whom espouse Islamophobic Hindu nationalist ideologies and serve as active leaders of India's ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Afreen Fatima, a Muslim student activist in India, wrote in Time magazine on July 5, 2022:
From our faith and history to our eating habits and clothes, the Hindu supremacists ruling India today have spared nothing in their campaign against our community. During the eight years of Narendra Modi's government, they have taken a sledgehammer to our country's secular foundations by routinely finding ever newer ways of targeting us. Last month they brought a bulldozer to my home.
In late May, a national spokeswoman of Modi's ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad on live TV. Muslims in India, and far beyond, were outraged. Shortly afterward, on June 10, Muslims in some parts of India held protests after Friday prayers. One such protest was held in my city, Prayagraj (erstwhile Allahabad), snowballing into violence. A swift police crackdown followed, leading to arbitrary arrests and detentions of Muslims across the city.
Thousands protest 'bulldozer justice' against Indian Muslims
Protests have been erupting in many Indian cities to condemn the demolition of homes and businesses belonging to Muslims, in what critics call a growing pattern of "bulldozer justice" aimed at punishing activists from the minority group.
On June 12, authorities in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh rode on a bulldozer to raze the home of Javed Ahmad, who they said was connected to Muslim religious protests that turned violent last Friday. Police arrested Ahmad.
The protests were sparked by derogatory remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed made recently by two spokespeople of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Bulldozers also crushed the properties of protesters in two other cities in Uttar Pradesh. In April, authorities in New Delhi used bulldozers to destroy Muslim-owned shops days after communal violence in which dozens were arrested. Similar incidents have been reported in other states.
On June 14, 12 prominent people, including former Supreme Court and High Court judges and lawyers, sent a letter to India's chief justice urging him to hold a hearing on the demolitions, calling them illegal and "a form of collective extrajudicial punishment." They accused the Uttar Pradesh government of suppressing dissent by using violence against protesters.
Two people who were protesting the remarks by the governing party spokespeople died of gunshot injuries in clashes with police in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state.
Several Muslim countries have also criticized the remarks, and protesters in Bangladesh called for a boycott of Indian products, leaving India's government scrambling to contain the diplomatic backlash.
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