PRESS RELEASE:
London, 15 August 2023
Diaspora groups, feminist organisations and MPs protest attacks on minority women and ethnic cleansing on Indian Independence Day
At least eleven of the UK’s leading Indian diaspora groups, including diaspora organisations from Manipur, alongside several key feminist organisations, and a number of MPs, came together in London on India’s Independence Day to protest against targeted sexual attacks on minority women, systematic ethnic cleansing and hate-inspired killings being orchestrated by the current Modi regime, with a particular focus on recent events in Manipur and Haryana. They also delivered an open letter to India’s President, the Honourable Droupadi Murmu, in which they urge her to take action to ensure justice for the victims and survivors of sexual violence against minority women, and call for a number of measures to be undertaken urgently (see text of letter below).
The protest took place in Parliament Square in Central London on Tuesday 15 August, 5.00 – 7.30pm BST. It was addressed by Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East. It also heard statements of support from John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, Sir Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham, Apsana Begum, MP for Poplar and Limehouse.
Organisers and participants have commented as follows:
“We are here to express our deep pain and horror that as India celebrates its 77th Independence Day, women from minority communities are being systematically targeted for horrific sexual violence by state-sanctioned mobs. The world was shocked by the incidents where Kuki-Zo women in Manipur were paraded naked, gang raped and killed by heavily armed mobs and where the police handed women over to the mobs. This story is repeated across India – Bilkis Bano had to wage a courageous campaign to bring those who gang-raped her during the Gujarat genocide to justice, but just one year ago, last Independence Day, the Modi government approved the early release of the rapists and they were actually welcomed with garlands by the VHP (a sister organisation of the ruling BJP)! In Hathras, the BJP government of UP went to extreme lengths to shield the oppressor caste men who gang-raped and murdered a 19-year-old Dalit woman. And we can never forget how, in Kashmir, the BJP held marches in support of those who gang raped and murdered eight-year-old Asifa. This hideous misogyny against Muslim, Christian, Dalit and Adivasi women and girl children is inseparable from the rise of fascism and the terrifying spectre of ethnic cleansing and genocide in India today” – Mukti Shah, South Asia Solidarity Group spokesperson.
“We in Unau Welfare UK, along with our friends, are taking part in this protest to raise awareness about the plight of our fellow community members who are facing the state sponsored ethnic cleansing carried out by Meitei militants (Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun) accompanied by the state forces in Manipur. We want to ask the government: why are they hesitating to address the human rights violations and atrocities against the tribals in Manipur? Unau Welfare UK demands President’s Rule in Manipur to stop the violence!” – Dany, Unau Welfare UK
“Rise in rage against the state-sponsored attacks, naked parading, gang rapes and threats to our sisters in India, particularly in Manipur but also elsewhere. We are anguished, pained, and enraged to see that a country which calls itself a democracy inflicts such violence against women” – Taranjit Chana, Million Women Rise
“UKIMC is deeply concerned at the ongoing crimes by the Hindutva gangs (led by the extremist VHP, Bajrang Dal groups – affiliates of the RSS) against minorities in India. The violence in Manipur continues – the world has watched in horror as video evidence emerged of the rape of Christian women and the attempts at ethnic cleansing directed against the Kuki-Zo community. There is a breakdown of law and order with violence spreading over the last few days to other parts of India – while the perpetrators are from the same Hindutva groups, the victims in these regions are Muslims. It is shocking that 76 years after independence, following targeted bulldozing, as the High Court has stated, ‘an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being carried out by the state’. This Independence Day we stand in support of the minorities with the other Indian diaspora groups in UK and demand an end to the acts of hatred and violence in India.” – Mohammed Khan, Director, UK Indian Muslim Council
“Mob-lynchings, rapes and murderous attacks on minorities and progressive forces and suppression of dissent have become an everyday occurrence in India under the present BJP government. Whether it’s Manipur or Haryana, politicians routinely use nationalist rhetoric to divide the community, with rape and murder of women weaponised with impunity. The world needs to wake up and take serious note of the ‘world’s largest democracy’ under the shadow of majoritarianism turning into a terrorist state, through suppression and silencing of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, caste affected Dalits and Tribal (Adivasi) communities!” – Satpal Muman, Chair, CasteWatch UK.
For more information please call or WhatsApp on (+44) 7846873341
or email southasiasolidaritygroup@gmail.com.
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Open letter to the Hon’ble Droupadi Murmu, President of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi 110004, India
Your excellency,
As members of the Indian diaspora and as women’s rights activists, we are writing to you to express our deep anguish about the current situation in India. We urge you to take immediate action to ensure justice for the victims and survivors of the horrific sexual violence faced by women belonging to the Kuki-Zo minority tribal community in Manipur, and to halt the violent persecution of Muslims and other minorities across the country.
The collusion of the Manipur police in these crimes against women and the impunity with which genocidal mobs are operating in Manipur, with mainly Christian, Kuki-Zo people facing what can only be described as ethnic cleansing, and more than 60,000 people from both communities displaced, points to the deliberate failure of the Manipur Chief Minister and indeed India’s Home Minister to protect lives in the state.
We are also appalled by the systematic violence against Muslims which has risen to unprecedented levels in a number of BJP-ruled states. Uncontrolled public hate speech by BJP leaders and associates, lynchings of Muslims in broad daylight, mosques, madrasas and libraries being burnt down, Muslim homes being bulldozed and other atrocities have all become almost daily events. Investigations into recent events in Haryana, in which Muslims, both local residents and migrant workers from other states, were targeted, have shown clearly how these are not random acts but are the result of careful planning to destroy the conditions for co-existence and orchestrate genocidal violence.
We join human rights defenders and civil society organisations in India in calling for:
- Those at all levels who are responsible for targeted rapes and sexual assaults against minority women from Muslim, Christian, Dalit and Adivasi communities to be brought to justice
- The immediate resignation of Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah
- Effective action to prevent public hate speech against minorities, both on the ground and online, which has included open calls for genocide and which India is now exporting to diaspora communities
- An immediate end to the bulldozing of homes as a form of ethnic cleansing and targeting of dissenters
- An end to the persecution of those who have spoken out against the policies and practices of the current Indian government and of organisations aligned with it, and immediate release of all political prisoners.
Signed:
South Asia Solidarity Group
Unau Welfare UK
UK Indian Muslim Council
CasteWatch UK
Million Women Rise
Strive UK
Scottish Indians for Justice
Women Against Caste
Apna Haq
Oxford South Asian Alternative Forum
Imkaan
Peace in India
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