WASHINGTON: The rights groups in the United States of America (USA) are planning protests next week against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state trip to Washington, over India’s deteriorating human rights situation.
The Indian American Muslim Council, Veterans for Peace and Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, and Peace Action are planning to gather near the White House on 22 June when Modi is due to meet the American President Joe Biden, Reuters reported.
Washington hopes for closer relations with India, which is deems as a counterweight to China, but rights activists worry that geopolitics would concerns about overshadow human rights.
The groups prepared flyers that with slogans “Save India from Hindu Supremacy” and “Modi Not Welcome.”
Another event would be organized in New York featuring a show titled “Howdy Democracy,” a play on 2019 “Howdy Modi!” name, in which the Indian prime minister and then-US President Donald Trump had featured in a rally in Texas.
BBC documentary in US
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have invited journalists, policy makers, and analysts next week to a screening in Washington of a BBC documentary on Narendra Modi that questioned his leadership during the deadly Gujarat riots in 2002.
