IAMC Weekly News Digest, 11th December 2020
Politicians from Australia, UK attend roundtable on whether India is becoming a fascist state
On 1 December, the Indian foreign ministry reacted sharply to comments by the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau,… On the same day, Janet Rice, an Australian senator, addressed the country’s parliament and called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh a “fascist organisation.” Five days earlier, on India’s Constitution Day, she attended a roundtable discussion on the question, “Is India becoming a fascist state?” The roundtable was jointly organised by Amnesty International and Australia- and United States-based diasporic advocacy groups: Humanism Project, Hindus for Human Rights and the Indian American Muslim Council…. The panellists discussed the activities of the Sangh Parivar – the RSS and its affiliates – and the Bharatiya Janata Party government helmed by Narendra Modi, as well as the challenges to dissent and free speech in India…. “I think people are realising that Hindutva is not Hinduism, it is fascism.”
Read moreDenial of justice in Babri Mosque demolition case remains Indian Judiciary’s biggest failure: IAMC
Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group committed to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, has reminded the Indian judiciary on the occasion of historic Babri Mosque’s demolition in 1992, that denial of justice in the demolition case, and failure to hold people responsible for the lawlessness which followed, was its “biggest failure.”… “The day of December 6 will continue to remind us the biggest failures of Indian judiciary when it failed to uphold justice, ignoring evidence of a criminal conspiracy against RSS and BJP leaders, noted and highlighted by the Supreme Court,” said Ahsan Khan, President of the Indian American Muslim Council, while urging the Indian government to appeal against the verdict in this case….
Read moreProtesting farmers are teaching India a hard – but much needed – lesson – By Barkha Dutt
….what started as farmers protesting an economic law has now become something much larger. It has touched off debates about many other issues: culture, identity, federalism, democracy and dissent. The mass mobilization of farmers, many of them Sikhs, from north Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, has been one of the most sustained citizen-driven protest movements against the all-powerful Bharatiya Janata Party…. In a country where more than 60 percent of the country’s population works in agriculture, the moral force of the Indian farmer cannot be underestimated….
Read more/Announcement
Modi Govt must listen to protesting farmers, repeal pro-corporate farm laws: IAMC
Communal Harmony
‘Real India’: Sikhs Stand In Solidarity As Muslim Offer Prayers Amid Ongoing Farmers’ Protests
News
Politicians from Australia, UK attend roundtable on whether India is becoming a fascist state
Denial of justice in Babri Mosque demolition case remains Indian Judiciary’s biggest failure: IAMC
Modi’s push for simultaneous polls will damage India’s federal structure, say 90 former bureaucrats
Fact-finding report points Delhi violence finger at Amit Shah
“This Is Not Democracy”: Karnataka’s Cow Slaughter Bill Provokes Fury
Law grad seeks RTI info, Gujarat varsity responds: Prove Citizenship
“Will Be Beaten”: Right-Wing Group’s Christmas Threat For Hindus In Assam
Madhya Pradesh: 25-year-old dalit touches food at a feast, beaten to death
Opinion
Protesting farmers are teaching India a hard – but much needed – lesson – By Barkha Dutt
‘Love Jihad’: India Is Further Dividing Hindus & Muslims – By Betwa Sharma
Ambedkar’s Vision Can Defeat Vision Represented by Those Who Demolished Babri Mosque – By S N Sahu
SC Order on Shaheen Bagh Protest Introduced Dangerous Constitutional Ideas – By Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Now as Farce: The end of the journalistic code of silence around the courts – By Atul Dev
