Calling out the Modi government for blocking its ‘X’ (formerly twitter) account, the HHR has stated that this is an “attempt to silence our voice by shutting down our Twitter account in India in collusion with Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).”
In the early hours of Saturday, October 14, HHR learnt that X had “withheld” their Twitter account in India, “in response to a legal demand,” presumably by the Government of India (GOI). An ally of the group, the Indian American Muslim Council’s Twitter account has also been “withheld” similarly.
Incidentally, there was no prior intimation by X. Hindus for Human Rights (HHR) an advocacy and activist group of American Indians states that it has no idea why their account has been suspended but conjectures that any “movement of progressive Hindus and their supporters is speaking up to save Indian democracy”.
The public statement issued by HHR also flags what it states as being a “ coordinated plan of transnational repression by the Modi government, assisted by their eager partners in the diaspora” and adds that “this action against HHR and IAMC (and others) may well represent the beginning of a massive clamp down of anti-Modi voices prior to the 2024 elections in India.”
It may be recalled that the same group, HHR, has faced the first step when a SLAPP lawsuit (civil suit for defamation) was brought against them by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in May 2021 against its co-founders. The case was dismissed.
Thereafter, there was incessant trolling of the organisation following the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference in September 2021, in which many had participated as practicing Hindus. HHR had responded and debunked the narrative that the conference was Hinduphobic.
Following the Rahul Gandhi visit to the United States in May 2023, HHR faced another onslaught with a Union Minister in the Modi cabinet, claiming on national TV that there was a “conspiracy among Rahul Gandhi, George Soro, and HHR’s co-founder Sunita to destroy India”. When this powerfully motivated slur failed to gain traction, this silencing of the voice of outward looking Hindus based in the United States has been attempted. The suspension of the ‘X’ (formerly twitter) account in India.
The statement issued by HHR states that they, as progressive Hindus, are speaking out against the danger of Hindutva ideology and the Modi government’s anti-minority actions, which run counter to the basic values of Hinduism. They affirm that they will not be silenced or stopped.
Like “a river” that “flows on in spite of boulders in the way, finding its way around”, as long as “people like Umar Khalid, Teesta Setalvad, Harsh Mander, Arundhati Roy, Newsclick, Amnesty India ….. as long as brave defenders of Indian democracy are continuing to fight, HHR will stand with them.”
HHR has called the current struggle as the “second freedom struggle for India”, nothing less.
The statement ends with a statement from HHR co-founder Raju Rajagopal, about Modi, Biden, and Human Rights through the lens of the Bhagavad Gita: “The action undertaken from delusion, without regard to capacity and to consequences – loss and injury to others – that is declared to be dark [vikarma].” (XVIII-25)
The statement may be read in its entirely here:
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