PM Narendra Modi's US visit faced protests from Patidar community, other groups: Report

GANDHINAGAR: Not just from the Patidar community, but the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had faced protests from other groups as well while in the US. The CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has been flooded with emails.

“A week before Modi’s arrival, Silicon Valley residents started mailing packages of Purell hand sanitizer to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, so he could wash off the stain after shaking hands with Narendra Modi, who was accused by Human Rights Watch of presiding over the killings of about 2,000 Muslims in 2002. Over 250 bottles have already been sent, with more pouring in; each package is dedicated to a named victim of the Gujarat pogroms”, claims the website of Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA), an umbrella group of activists.

AJA, other groups also gathered along with the Sikh community that showed up in large numbers at San Jose’s SAP Center to protest against Narendra Modi.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the turnout, which was much higher than we anticipated,” AJA website quotes Bhajan Singh, a community leader with the AJA.

“Protesters enacted a “die in” to dramatize the attacks against Muslims, Christians, Dalits, women, and other communities that are occurring with increasing frequency under the Modi administration”, it added.

AJA further claimed that local politicians stayed away from the ‘community reception. “Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, in whose district the event took place, chose not to attend. Congressman Honda, who has the largest number of Indian American constituents, issued a statement stating that he is “well aware of the controversy that surrounds Prime Minister Modi’s visit…I will neither overlook nor forget my duty to be a strong advocate for human rights.” Ro Khanna, who is running against Honda, issued a statement saying the US-India partnership “must be rooted in a respect for civic dissent, for human rights, for a robust public square that engages NGOs, and for religious tolerance and liberty.” AJA ran an outreach campaign to local elected officials, educating them on Modi’s failed civil rights record; many subsequently declined the Modi invite”, it said.

“Speakers representing the wide variety of groups in the alliance addressed the gathering and the media. They recounted the repeated and increasing violence visited upon India’s most vulnerable communities by Modi’s government and his supporters”, it added.