By Arun Venugopal
A controversial float – 18 feet long, 9 feet wide, 8 feet high and steeped in symbolism – is set to debut at Sunday’s India Day Parade, but interfaith activists are vowing to block it, with help from Mayor Eric Adams.
The parade, which organizers said typically draws 100,000 members of the Indian diaspora to Midtown, is set to include a float representing a Hindu temple inaugurated earlier this year in India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, roiling religious tensions.
The temple was built on the site where a 16th century mosque previously stood, until its destruction by a Hindu mob in 1992. Despite the violence occurring thousands of miles away and years ago, local Muslim leaders said its inclusion opens unhealed wounds.
“The proposed float for the parade is a blatant attempt to glorify the illegal demolition of the historical Babri Mosque and celebrate ongoing violence and terror against 200 million Indian Muslims,” said a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Adams signed by a number of interfaith groups, including the Indian American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Hindus for Human Rights. “This is not merely a cultural display but a vulgar celebration of anti-Muslim hate, bigotry, and religious supremacy.”
Aides to Hochul did not respond to questions about the parade, which begins at noon and marks India’s independence from Great Britain in 1947. During a Tuesday press conference, Adams addressed the growing controversy.
“The city’s open to everyone and there’s no room for hate. And if there is a float or a person in the parade that is promoting hate, they should not,” said Adams, who noted he hadn’t been invited to the parade.
This story was originally published in gothamist.com. Read the full story here.
