Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, has decried Mr. Narendra Modi’s attempts to project himself as a champion of peace and harmony, while being complicit in the mass murder and displacement of thousands during the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, and engaging in continued harassment of social activists like Shabnam Hashmi.
Modi recently announced a “sadbhavna mission” fast to Godhra, the city where the Sabarmati train carnage in February 2002 became a pretext for the organised genocide of Muslims. Although the fast’s stated objective is to “promote peace, harmony and brotherhood”, the actions of Modi’s administration, in detaining social activist Shabnam Hashmi and five others of NGO Anhad, belie this claim. Ms. Hashmi and her colleagues were detained for organising a convention titled “In Search of Justice.”
“There is mounting evidence that Mr. Modi has blood on his hands and it cannot be washed away through exercises in political chicanery such as the fast in Godhra,” said Mr. Shaheen Khateeb (President, IAMC). “While Mr. Modi has the right to fast whenever he wishes, his administration’s continued harassment of those that are genuinely seeking to help the victims exposes the hollowness of his newfound sensitivity to the human condition,” added Mr. Khateeb. IAMC has called upon Mr. Modi to drop the pretensions of false empathy for the Gujarat victims, desist from the harassment of whistleblowers and social activists, and allow justice to take its course.