The Islamophobic and neo-Nazi ideology of Hindutva is a clear and present danger to peace and freedoms in the United States, a coalition of civil rights organizations told key officials of the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at a recent event in Edison, New Jersey.
At the event titled United Against Hate, activists from American Muslims for Democracy (AMD), Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) and Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) made detailed presentations on this ideology of Hindu supremacism that is committing mass persecution of India’s Muslims and Christians and is rearing its ugly head in New Jersey as well as across the US.
Attending the event were David S Leonardis, Special Investigator from the New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety; Michael E Campion, Chief of the Civil Rights Division for the US Attorney General’s Office; and Jonathan R Norbut of the U.S. Department of Justice. The law enforcement officials took questions during the panel from community members, who raised concerns about safety.
“As American citizens, we have a responsibility to ensure we stand for justice for all. We need to be aware of this development that’s occurring in the United States,” said Dr Ali Chaudry, Board Member of AMD. “We cannot have any group coming in and intimidating [people], whether it’s a bulldozer or speeches or appearing at Teaneck Council meetings, or in Woodbridge, or Edison or anywhere in the country.”
Mohammad Jawad, President, New Jersey Chapter, IAMC, made a presentation on the origins of Hindu supremacism in India as a far-right reactionary ideology a century ago.
“The [Hindutva movement] is… running programmes parallel to those in Germany in 1937. India’s Hindu extremists are calling for genocide against Muslims,” Jawad said. “What is really being done to stop it? Because the international community is not doing as much as we want.”
This story was originally published in counterview.net. Read the full story here