Ram Mandir Celebrations in NY – Talking Points

People of conscience need to protest because this is not a celebration of faith but a celebration of virulent hate and bigotry. The Ram temple in Ayodhya, the symbol of Mr. Modi’s India, is being born out of acts of criminality, embodying the Hindu nationalist vision of the subordination of minorities and other marginalized groups in India.
August 5th 2020 also marks the one year anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and the brutal lock down of the Indian state of Kashmir. The people in Kashmir have suffered for a whole year, and foreign journalists are still not being allowed into Kashmir.
The Indian government also enacted a law earlier this year called the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which, along with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), threatens to render stateless all of India’s 200 million Muslim citizens.
The celebration on August 5th also signals two messages: First to the people in Kashmir who have been subjected to collective punishment by the Indian State that their rights and freedom can be unilaterally revoked. Second, India is a Hindu rashtra (nation), and Indian Muslims do not belong here.
We are therefore requesting the advertisers and the mayor of NYC to STOP this blatant display of religious bigotry and hatred and TAKE A STAND for the values we all believe in — justice for all, human rights, freedom of speech and thought and belief.