Support NPR for covering Hindutva-fascism
Indian Muslim Council-USA requests your help in encouraging continued honest and courageous coverage of these issues in the United States media. IMC-USA delegation has recently met with many influential media institutions and US government officials asking them to investigate Hindutva groups in the US.
July 10, 2003 India Violence
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http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1328941
Last week, a high court in the Indian State of Gujarat acquitted 21 Hindu men on charges they murdered more than a dozen Muslims in the town of Baroda last year. More than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in the orgy of violence that followed last year's burning of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in Godhra. NPR's Michael Sullivan reports.
July 12, 2003 Gandhi Assassination Conspirator Says No Regrets
Listen to Weekend Edition - Saturday audio
http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1334787
The last surviving conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi says, 50 years later, he would do it again. Gopal Godse says he cannot forgive Gandhi for betraying India's Hindus by agreeing to partition and a secular Indian government when the country won independence from Great Britain in 1947. NPR's Michael Sullivan reports.
Action Requested:
Please take out a few minutes and contact NPR thanking them and urging them to do more stories on the dangers of Hindutva-fascism both in the US and in India.
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Sample letter (Please modify and personalize):
Dear Madam/Sir:
Thank you for your recent stories on the intimidation of witnesses in the Gujarat pogrom court cases in Gujarat, India, that aired on July 10th and 12th on the morning edition and the weekend edition-Saturday respectively. The burning of the train in Godhra in which Hindu militants were traveling was condemned by all Muslim leaders in India. But the incident was still used as an excuse to launch a well planned pogrom in which, according to reports by human rights organizations, more than 2000 Muslims were butchered and hundreds raped. As your report has pointed out, not a single criminal has been brought to justice. This travesty of justice has emboldened the Hindutva-fascists who are threatening more genocides.
Human Rights Watch recently released its new report on the denial of justice and relief following the communal violence in Gujarat in February and March 2002 that claimed over 2,000 lives. The new report, titled Compounding Injustice: The Government's Failure to Redress Massacres in Gujarat, can be found at: http://hrw.org/reports/2003/india0703
It is also disturbing to see that the ideology of Hindutva is active in the United States among some members of the Indian Diaspora. These groups are involved in running camps for youth and raising funds. We request NPR to do a follow up story covering this aspect.
Also please note that these extremist organizations recently celebrated the birthday of Gandhi's assassin, Nathu Ram Godse. Hindutva sites in the US such as hinduunity.com and hindutva.org openly collude with groups listed on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations and incite hatred against Christian, Muslims and moderate Hindus.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
