On the occasion of Indian Republic Day, The Coalition to Stop Genocide, a broad coalition of Indian Americans and US based civil rights organizations and activists organized massive protests in multiple cities across the US as well as Toronto as part of a “Day of Action”.
A statement released by the group says, “The key objective of the protests was to demand the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India, and to urge action by the US government in this regard.” It added, “Every city where the protest was held reported huge crowds, including Chicago (5,000), New York (4,000), Washington, DC (3,000), Atlanta (2,000) and Bay Area, California (2,000).”
Speaking at a protest, Dalit rights activist and founder of Equality Labs, Ms. Thenmozhi Soundararajan said, “The CAA is an integral part of the Modi government’s strategy of creating a stateless Muslim population, that can be profiled, treated as second-class citizens, and imprisoned in massive detention centers already being built in India.”
Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York, said, “The CAA makes an enemy of India’s own precious people damaging the pluralistic democracy that has existed since 1947 and has been such an inspiration to the world.”
The release also says how the Indian Embassy in Washington DC tried to drown out the sloganeering and speeches of the protesters by playing loud music. The protesters in Washington, DC collected at the Ellipse on the south side of White House and then marched to the Indian Embassy, where Indian officials had barricaded the Gandhi statue.
The Coalition to Stop Genocide includes several different organizations, including Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Equality Labs, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR).