'Holi Against Hindutva': US College Students to Hold Protest Against Delhi Riots

Students will come to the designated protest sites wearing black to condemn BJP's hate politics.

Vikram Gopal

Students will come to the designated protest sites wearing black to condemn BJP's hate politics.

Today, on March 5, 'Students against Hindutva' – a student-run group in the US – will hold a demonstration at designated spaces to condemn the recent violence in northeast Delhi and government action against those protesting the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.

In solidarity with protestors in India, students from different college campuses such as Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Columbia and so on, will gather at predetermined public spaces wearing black. Unlike a conventional Holi celebration, where people throw different colours at each other, organisers will only supply the colour white.

"The goal of this symbolic use of black and white is to signify that we are not in celebration but in condemnation of the Indian government’s actions," said the press statement released by the student's group.

Students from than 20 college campuses have signed up for the demonstration.

Also read: Ivy League South Asian Student Groups Slam CAA in Open Letter to US Congress

The demonstration, according to the statement, also aims at drawing international attention to the "hateful rhetoric" of the BJP government, which immensely cares about India's "image" abroad.

Shreeya Singh, founder of the group, talks about the responsibilities of the diaspora as reports of violence emerge from the national capital as well as other parts of the country.

"This fight is the most patriotic fight I have ever fought for, and I believe it is the diaspora’s duty to stand behind the protestors risking their lives day after day for India’s secular soul," she said.

Vishwa Padigepati, the legislative coordinator of the group, believes that the diaspora's silence in the present times would be read as the "acceptance of policies which are inherently inequitable for Indians".

"Our distance from India only necessitates greater responsibility," she added.

This article went live on March fifth, two thousand twenty, at zero minutes past twelve at night.

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