Rep. Ro Khanna Says Indian Government “Captured” Regulatory Process In Social Media Companies In India
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) applauds Congressman Ro Khanna, an Indian American member of the US House of Representatives from California, for condemning Facebook for allowing “incitement of violence against minorities” in India.
In an interview with renowned journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Rep. Khanna reaffirmed his commitment to pluralism explicitly saying “pluralism is key to democracies and key to India’s best traditions.” Congressman Khanna also said “Government officials in India had “actually captured the regulatory processes at these social media companies.”
Recalling that his grandfather had spent four years in prison as part of Mahatma Gandhi’s movement to free India of British colonial rule, Khanna said “Facebook needs to take remedial action and acknowledge what was wrong.”
He said he had proposed that the Alien Torts Act “be extended to allow people outside the United States to sue in the United States courts. When there is speech that incites violence and mass human rights violations, there should be some recourse, because right now their only recourse is to the company itself, and the company itself in these overseas markets is often captured by bad interests.”
Hindu Rightwing Mob Threatens Restaurant Because It Is Owned By A Muslim
In yet another incident of Islamophobic hate spilling over, dozens of well-to-do middle-class Hindu Indians demonstrated outside a restaurant in Gujarat’s Anand district merely because the restaurant is owned by a Muslim.
The extremists raised sectarian slogans that if Muslims want to live in India they must adopt Hindu gods and religious slogans. The demonstrators also chanted that “traitors should be shot dead.”
Muslim owned shops and businesses have become a target of Hindu extremists recently. In a separate incident, a Muslim owned chicken shop was vandalized by a Hindu right-wing group in Karnataka, a state that has witnessed a series of hate-crimes lately. Hindu extremist groups have repeatedly announced that Hindus must boycott Muslim-owned businesses, including poor vegetable sellers and handymen looking for daily work.
Hindu Extremist Militias VHP, Bajrang Dal Threaten Catholic School Demanding Installation Of Hindu God’s Statue
The IAMC condemns Hindu extremist groups belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, which have been both categorized as “militant organizations” by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), for threatening a Catholic-run school in Madhya Pradesh.
As has become increasingly common across India, some 30 members of the two fascist organizations gave a “memorandum” to Father Augustine Chittuparambil, the manager of Christ Jyoti Senior Secondary School in Satna district, demanding that the school install a statue of a Hindu god within 15 days or “face protests.”
Such threats can only mean oncoming violence against Christians, as VHP and Bajrang Dal, a militia, carry out throughout the country. Incredibly, and without evidence, the extremists claimed that the school had been built by razing the statue of a Hindu god. Father Chittuparambil said this was the first time in 49 years since the school was built that anyone had made such a claim.
Indian Paramilitary Shoots Muslim Laborer Dead In Kashmir
In yet another instance of targeted killing, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), an Indian paramilitary that has for decades been accused of widespread human rights abuses against civilians, shot and killed Shahid, a poor Muslim laborer in Shopian district of Kashmir.
According to eyewitnesses, he was merely passing by when he was fired upon. Predictably, Indian authorities claimed Shahid was a terrorist who “attacked” the CRPF team.
For 30 years, the Indian security forces have killed thousands of innocent Kashmiris in cold blood and trampled upon their fundamental rights. India is today one of the world’s most militarized zones, with the Muslim-majority Kashmir being at the receiving end of unending atrocities.
