Free Travel From New Jersey To Halal Meal, Accommodation: Big Bucks Behind Anti-Modi Protest In US

On Saturday afternoon, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Malviya shared the poster of an anti-Modi rally planned in New York on Sunday at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, blaming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for being behind it.

In no uncertain terms, Malviya alleged, “Sam Pitroda and his cohorts are planning protest against the Prime Minister when he visits New York”.

Pitroda is the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress and was moving like a shadow during Gandhi’s recent US tour.

But beyond the political allegations, very little seems to be known about who is orchestrating this protest, arranging logistics and trying to get people to embarrass India during PM’s three-day US tour. News18 has learnt that a lot of money is put into this effort.

THE ARRANGEMENTS

Behind the protest is an organisation called ‘Reclaim India Democracy’ that promises free travel to anyone who wishes to attend the Sunday protest. Free buses are being arranged to transport protesters from various places in New Jersey — a suburb near New York, predominantly inhabited by Indians. There’s a free meal on offer, with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. However, only halal meat is available, News18 has learnt.

The organisation has gone to the extent of arranging for accommodation if someone is visiting from outside. They have even announced facilities such as extending support for any protester with disability.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

But who are the members of the group which can splurge so much only to embarrass India and its Prime Minister? They say, it’s a “coalition” dedicated to “reclaiming democracy, preserve rule of law, freedom of speech and safeguard constitutional rights of Indian citizens”. They accuse PM Modi of turning India into a “Hindu ethnostate”, even though India saved Afghanistani Sikhs in recent times after the Taliban takeover and gave safe refuge to former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina — a Muslim. They claim to represent “marginalised communities such as Dalits and Adivasis in Modi’s India”, at a time when India got its first Dalit women President.

This is not the first time they have been orchestrating such protests in the United States. On June 22 this year, they organised a similar protest at the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC and held a press conference a day before at the National Press Club there.

The same day, the organisation had arranged for another event in the garb of a ‘music concert’ where they preached the same anti-India sentiments. The event was called ‘Howdy Democracy’.

During Modi’s last US visit in June, Joe Biden came under domestic criticism from groups such as these for rolling out a red carpet for India’s Prime Minister and hosting him for a state dinner. In a first, the gates of the White House were opened for Indians to enter the lawn and listen to PM Modi’s address from the White House lawn — something that made many Modi critics in the US uncomfortable.