What will it take for America to wake up and see that, indeed, Prime Minister #Modi is wearing no clothes whatsoever and that our nation must stop providing him — and his zealots — platforms from which to claim otherwise? #ModiNotWelcome
In 2022, raising concerns about the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in India, Representative @IlhanMN asked: “What will it take for us to outwardly criticize the actions that the Modi administration is taking?”
Certainly, no one could imagine Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, China’s Xi Jinping, or Russia’s Vladimir Putin being so feted and honored by the US government.
Yet, no matter how bad the situation gets in Modi’s India, the vast majority of politicians on both sides of the political aisle in Washington, DC can’t stop...
... stumbling over themselves to be the first ones to babble about the stunning suit of “democracy and shared values” worn by a man whom even the tiniest child can see is a stark naked fascist.
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Multiple India-based followers have informed me via screenshots that my entire Twitter account was just blocked in India in the past 12 hours or so. @TwitterIndia, this is outrageous. Moreover, you have failed to even formally notify me of this.
What’s the reason? I can only speculate, but it appears to be (considering the timing and mass banning in India of many other accounts of journalists touching on the same subject) this benign thread in which I affirm the need to uphold basic civil liberties in Punjab.
Whatever your opinion of Amritpal Singh, a man about whom I know very little, the mass crackdown on basic civil liberties in #Punjab is a totalitarian nightmare. Internet & mobile service banned, assembly banned, media censorship. From Kashmir to Punjab, where is the azadi?
This is not an endorsement of Amritpal Singh, about whom I hadn’t even heard until yesterday, but a denunciation of a governmental system which strips away the civil liberties of everyone in its efforts to arrest a single person. This is not justice. It’s a witch hunt.
Freedoms of speech, of assembly, of press, of communication, and more are inalienable rights which reign supreme in any democratic nation. No situation justifies suspending them. Ever, anywhere, at all.
The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) will vehemently protest against being linked to India’s fascist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) when its ties are exposed (especially in front of local governments in the US). However, some basic research reveals a radically different story.
Let’s take a look at what mainstream Indian media says.
India’s Zee News — an outlet actually owned by a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member — calls the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) the “overseas unit” of the RSS.
Short weeks after a worker of Hindu nationalist #RSS confessed the paramilitary ran bomb-making camps to attack Muslims, RSS-backed ruling BJP is sweeping up 100s of members of largest organized Indian Muslim group on flimsy allegations.
One of the worst allegations is that Popular Front of India (PFI) was plotting to assassinate RSS-BJP PM Modi. This is the same allegation levied against the Bhima Koregaon 16, a collection of academics/activists known for dissenting against RSS-BJP policies.
These PFI members, across multiple states, are being rounded up and held under draconian legislation that allows for arrest and indefinite detention without charges. This comes as international experts warn the RSS-BJP is on the verge of staging an anti-Muslim genocide in India.
Honestly, the hardest thing to process & deal with, for me over the past couple months, has been the relentless wave of propaganda attacks against me due, in particular, to my sustained campaign this late spring against #RSS-linked US Congressman @CongressmanRaja.
In the wake of it, #RSS-linked state legislators @PadmaKuppaMI41 & @NirajAntani, as well as US affiliate of RSS's religious wing, VHP, @VHPANews, have directly attacked me by name. Despite immense love for my work expressed by many diaspora groups, none have spoken in my defense.
I've talked about it before. I'm putting my reputation on the line. I have nothing to gain here & everything to lose. I stand by these positions because I know they're right, I know people are (& I know people who are) suffering, & if not me, then who? Someone must do it.