The relationship between the two countries needs to end in order to pressure India to stop their genocide against minorities Photo The Heritage Foundation
US/India – With the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India has experienced a dangerous rise in Islamophobia over the past decade. The US has often portrayed itself as a land of liberty and justice for all, however, their stance on India (and Palestine, Yemen etc) and the genocide being committed in those lands have shown this to be rather false.
Over the past year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has consistently recommended declaring India a “country of particular concern” due to religious freedom violations. However, both the Trump and Biden administrations have failed to take action, prioritising economic gain over the rights of religious minorities and human life.
Mary Scully, advocate for the Kashmir Solidarity Movement, believes the US and other nations have never moved to recognise India as a country of particular concern due to economic and military reasons. In fact, due to the strategic power that India holds, they are pushing onwards to create a stronger tie with Modi. It appears economic gain seems to outweigh concerns for the rights of religious minorities and human life.
“The US and several other countries, including Israel and Russia, have considerable military and commercial deals with India because it is strategically important in South Asia as a bulwark in competition with China. The US and other countries are not just ignoring India’s flagrant violations of religious and other civil rights in India but find that repression best serves militarism. That is why Modi is being feted right now in the US Congress and Biden White House: the US is cultivating a strategic relationship regardless of Modi’s incipient fascism.”
Gujarat program and its aftermath
The Gujarat program in 2002, when Modi was the Chief Minister, exemplifies the atrocities that occurred. Investigations conducted by the British Foreign Affairs Ministry revealed Modi’s direct responsibility for the program, where thousands of individuals, including women, were subjected to violence, rape, and murder. Despite these alarming facts and overwhelming evidence, the Indian justice system has failed to deliver justice while Modi continued to gain power and eventually became Prime Minister. The reason justice has not been able to take place is fairly simple to Scully, the court is used to “serve the interests of capital, not to serve justice for working people”.
“The Indian Supreme Court does not operate as an impartial legal arbiter. It seconded US courts by denying justice to those sustaining health problems from the 1984 Bhopal disaster. It has supported the Modi regime in rulings against Kashmiri self-determination. It whitewashed Modi’s responsibility for Gujarat. The Indian Supreme Court functions like the US Supreme Court: to serve the interests of capital, not to serve justice for working people.”
Despite the rhetoric, the court system is as subject to political pressure as any other governmental institution, explained Scully. However, the progressive opposition movement in India is very weak. Many activists are being monitored and fear for their lives. As such, there is very little public pressure to get justice for those who have been wronged.
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The genocide threat and Hindutva Movement
Dr. Sheikh Ubaid, a neurologist and human rights activist, speaking to El-Hajj Mauri Saalakhan on Salaamedia emphasised that the ruling party in India, affiliated with the Hindutva movement, poses a significant threat. He describes the party as a Hindu supremacist organisation that even views Hitler as a role model. A statement that Scully agrees with and believes that India’s move towards fascism is being facilitated by the “US, Israel, Russia, the EU”.
“That means that activists in those countries must become engaged with Kashmiri self-determination, Palestinian Intifada, the Rohingya movement, and other national liberation movements. If our governments bankroll fascism. It is our responsibility to stand up against it and support the struggles of the oppressed. If we do nothing but wring our hands, whimper, and cry crocodile tears, we prove ourselves useless to the fight against incipient fascism and do nothing to move the struggles of the oppressed forward.”
There are many policies that the BJP has enacted which make it a “fascist-type organisation”. One which the elite are happy to go along with so long as it “delivers in maintaining the occupation in Kashmir”.
“It incites communal conflict and anti-Muslim pogroms and violence. It perfectly suits the needs of neoliberal capitalism in India right now. It will be supported by the ruling elite so long as it delivers in maintaining occupation in Kashmir, in turning Kashmir into a showpiece of neoliberal economics, in land grabs, in control over Indian agriculture, in political repression. It has to be bounced out of office but because of corruption, that is unlikely. The left parties in India are massive and can mobilise hundreds of thousands of people when they choose to but they don’t. They play handmaiden to the Indian government. The crisis isn’t just BJP rule but the corruption of left politics to organise popular opposition.”
The failings of human rights activists and organisations in the US
While there has been some outcry from human rights activists and organisations in the US, Ubaid firmly believes it has not been enough. They have failed to have any impact on U.S. policy due to the influence of powerful lobbies supporting Hindutva. Scully agreed with the statement believing that many just issue a political statement but never actively protest what is happening around the world.
“I don’t know that many US human rights organisations which have actually campaigned against Indian policies, especially the occupation of Kashmir and the persecution of Indian Muslims. Occasionally, they make a public statement but they exhibit no profound understanding, knowledge, or commitment to those struggles. An example of their political compromises is that none of them take an unequivocal antiwar stance but only make proposals for how to slaughter more humanely.”
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Connecting India’s actions with global human rights issues
Activists have suggested that the human rights abuses in India are connected to similar issues in other nations, such as Israel. That India and other countries use each other to fund such acts, something which Scully agreed upon.
“I definitely believe they are and often write about it. South African journalist Azad Essa has written a brilliant book titled ‘Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel’ which lays out the long military and political relationship India has had with Israel to maintain the occupation of Kashmir. That relationship goes both ways because it is also directed against the Palestinians. Russia arms and bankrolls the occupation of Kashmir, the US has substantial military and commercial contracts with India, in effect arming the occupation, and the UAE is involved in turning Kashmir into a showpiece of neoliberal economics which will reduce Kashmiris to service workers in the tourist industry and sweatshop workers. India is aiding and abetting the Myanmar junta in its genocide against the Rohingya and its suppression of the national uprising.”
In order to put a stop to such relationships there needs to be a collaboration or coordination between “a weakened Palestinian solidarity movement and a developing Kashmir Solidarity Movement”. Should these two movements fail or fall, Scully fears it will “set humanity and the struggle for democracy back centuries, not decades”.
For now, it remains critical for the US to denounce India and immediately cut ties with the country. Activists and organisations should continue to place pressure on governments to boycott India and ensure international pressure is applied. Until then, the situation in India will, unfortunately, continue to get worse and the BJP and Hindutva Movement grows in power.
“The US should sever all ties with India, including all of its substantial military deals and collaborations. Instead, the US is strengthening its relationship with India through the Modi regime. It’s an abomination that Modi the genocidaire is being feted at the White House and speaking to the US Congress. The US has billions of dollars in deals with India. It could reverse the situation if it chose to. But it considers India a lynchpin in its strategic military and political goals in South Asia so it won’t. The good news is that Kashmiri activists in the US have been organising protests against US glorification and whitewashing to Modi.”
