Sadhvi Ritambhara addressing Hindus
Washington (United States): Secularist groups and Hindutva activists in the US are locking horns again – this time over the visit of controversial Sadhvi Ritambhara, bringing their bitter feud in India to American shores.
Encouraged by their campaign that led to the denial of an American visa to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for his alleged role in the Gujarat riots, secularist groups are planning to question the State Department on why it allowed the sadhvi to visit US when she is charged in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
Sadhvi Ritambhara arrived in the US last week and is in Florida this weekend for religious discourses.
She is scheduled to speak at the South Florida Hindu temple on Sunday.
This is not the first time Indian secularist groups in the US have protested the sadhvi’s visit. Protests and demonstrations organised by Leftist groups such as the Indian American Coalition for Plurarism (IACP), Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL) and IMAN (Indian Muslim Alert Network) marked her fundraising effort at the Ganesh temple in Flushing, NY in 2002.
The organisations want to resume their protests this time. "What we need a well thought out plan, sustained effort and a viable coalition. IACP along with the other groups now should take up this issue with the state department as to how they could issue her the visa. It is about time we resumed our briefings to the human rights desk at the state department," one activist wrote to members in an email alert.
In Florida, the secularist groups have already forced the mayor of the city of Hollywood Beach to cancel an appearance at the discourse and disown reports that the city was sponsoring the event.
The protests are led by the Florida chapter of the Indian-Muslim Council, which, the Miami Herald reported, has enlisted the help of 14 other Muslim and Christian organisations in the area.
A press conference held by Indian-American secularists on the steps of the City Hall was reported by the Herald, which said "the (sadhvi) event has not brought joy to city officials, who have been inundated with calls from angry protesters". But pro-Hindutva groups and sponsors of the religious discourses including the South Florida Hindu temple were also agitated about the efforts by Muslim and Christian groups to besmirch their efforts which they said were purely spiritual.
Amid increasingly heated rhetoric, one activist called the protesting groups "Hindu baiters", and wrote to temple members, "this is to inform everyone that despite protests being organised by those supporting terror, the program is going as per schedule. We do not fear terrorists and we will prevail."
Source: Times of India
