Near the statue of Mohandas Gandhi in Manhattan’s Union Square, Indian American

Near the statue of Mohandas Gandhi in Manhattan’s Union Square, Indian American civil liberty groups held a rally and a candlelight vigil earlier this month to mark the 10th anniversary of communal riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

The deadly riots killed 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus, left 223 missing and injured 2,500, according to the Indian government. Many in India have accused the state’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, of failing to protect Muslims, or even of orchestrating the violence against them. In 2005, Modi, who is still chief minister, was denied a diplomatic visa to the United States after India’s National Human Rights Commission found that his government failed to protect the human rights of Gujaratis.

The protesters chanted slogans such as “We want Gandhi’s Gujarat, not Modi’s Gujarat,” according to a report by the news agency IANS that ran in The South Asian Times. They demanded the arrest of Narendra Modi and reparation for the victims.

“We vow to continue the struggle till fascism is completely defeated. Every person has the right to live with dignity,”

said Biju Mathew of the Coalition Against Genocide (CAG), the alliance responsible for the event. CAG also announced its six month mobilization campaign, “Failure of Justice”, that will create an intensive focus in Washington DC on the impunity that the Modi regime has enjoyed in Gujarat in spite of overwhelming evidence in the public domain, added Mathew.

Several Gujaratis, including Bhairavi Desai, the Executive Director of New York Taxi Workers Alliance, showed up to demand justice for the Gujarat riot victims.

“An injury to one is an injury to us all,” she declared, “and we bear the responsibility to fight till justice is served.”

Many Hindus also joined the rally, reported The South Asian Times’ Jinal Shah.

“Any time a crime is perpetrated in the name of faith, we want people of all faiths including Hindus to stand up and say ‘not in our name’,” said Sunita Vishwanath of Sadhana, a progressive group. “We call on all people of faith, including Hindus, to combat religious extremism and religion-motivated terrorism, and instead insist on truth, peace and justice.”

http://thesouthasiantimes.info/content/diaspora/indian-americans-remember-2002-gujarat-victims-rally