Holy mantra: 'Bitch, bitch'

G.S. Mudur Sep 10, 2018 00:00 IST

New Delhi: The 21-year-old university student and five of her friends sitting among the audience at the plenary session of the World Hindu Congress in a Chicago hotel on Friday night had come with the intent to disrupt the meeting with slogans.

They knew their slogans - to be hurled at a point when RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat was on stage - would anger many around them.

What they hadn't imagined was the ferocity of the violence they would face in retaliation from sections of the audience congregated for the WHC.

The six protesters - five young women and a man - are members of the Chicago South Asians for Justice, which describes itself as a coalition resisting the rise of fascism in the US, India and the world. They had planned a peaceful demonstration at the WHC.

They positioned themselves on two opposite sides of the packed hall - two protesters on one side shouted "RSS turn around", four protesters on the other side shouted: "We don't want you in our town." They also attempted to unfurl banners that said: "Stop Hindu fascism."

But seconds after they began their slogans, sections of the audience rushed at them, drowning the slogans with their own shouts, eyewitnesses in the hall said.

"I've never had so many people put their hands on me, we were just shocked by the degree of the violence in their response," the university student told The Telegraph. "One man put his hands around my neck and started choking me."

A 26-year-old woman who was among the protesters was thrown off her chair and punched in the face. "I heard people calling me 'bitch, bitch, bitch....' One man said my mother should have been killed so I would not have been born; another called me a 'dirty Muslim'."

Later, even while she was handcuffed by police, a man walked up to her and spat in her face. He was charged with battery and arrested.

The Chicago South Asians for Justice coalition in a statement issued on Sunday said: "The crowd's reaction tore the mask off the fascism underlying the WHC and the Hindutva ideology."

The protesters' slogans and the violence they encountered appear to reflect ideological fissures dividing sections of non-resident Indian communities in the US.

The coalition has thanked Illinois state senator-elect Ram Villivalam and Chicago alderman Ameya Pawar for declining invitations to the WHC, denouncing the event, and issuing statements in solidarity with the coalition's protests.

But it has called on US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who attended and spoke at the WHC, to issue a statement denouncing the event and the violence that took place.

Villivalam had issued a statement ahead of the WHC: "I do not support any group or event arranged or led by organisations that intimidate minorities, incite discrimination, commit acts of terror on race or ethnic background, promote hate speech, and/or believe in faith-based nationalism."

Coalition members say some speakers at the WHC "reiterated their disturbing political philosophy which includes militaristic and eugenic overtones and messages of intolerance".

An email sent by The Telegraph to a WHC organiser, Shailesh Rajput, evoked no response. A Chicago-based organiser of the WHC did not respond to telephone calls.

Coalition members have participated in other demonstrations in the US, and had once even disrupted a Donald Trump rally. Under standard protocol, the protesters are quickly escorted out by security officials, a member said.

But at the WHC, the protesters say the crowd's reaction to their slogans exposed the "intense and dangerous" ideology underlying the WHC and Hindutva.

The Chicago South Asians for Justice coalition has demanded that the WHC organisers, sponsors, attendees and speakers denounce past and present violence by Hindutva organisations.

The protesters said they wanted to remain anonymous because they wanted to protect themselves from what they believe would be an "imminent backlash from people who would like to attack, hurt, and even possibly kill us".

"We want to reiterate that many of us are from Hindu families with caste privilege who recognise and reject Hindutva's militant nationalism."

The WHC website says the conference is aimed at discussing "the challenges and opportunities facing Hindu communities across the globe"... and seeking "tangible solutions for the progress and prosperity of Hindus and the betterment of humanity and the world".