‘Anti-Muslim’: Outrage over temple float for India Day parade

New York: A carnival float featuring a Hindu temple that is planned for an upcoming India Day Parade in New York City has sparked controversy, with a number of groups calling it anti-Muslim and saying it should be removed from the event.

The float depicts a temple to the Hindu god Lord Ram. The temple was consecrated this year on a site in Ayodhya, India, which is believed to be his birthplace. But the site has long been bitterly contested between Hindus and Muslims, and in the early 1990s a mosque that stood there was razed by a Hindu fundamentalist mob.

The Indian temple dedicated to Lord Ram in Ayodhya. The temple is being depicted in a float set for a New York parade.Credit: AP

Some US-based organisations have written to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, calling the float anti-Muslim and saying it glorified the mosque’s takedown.

Among the groups to have signed the letter were the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Human Rights.

“This float’s presence represents these groups’ desire to conflate Hindu nationalist ideology with Indian identity, but India is a secular country,” the letter said.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, which is organising the float, says the display represents a Hindu place of worship and aims to glorify a deity considered an important part of Indian and Hindu identity. The Hindu American Foundation said it was an exercise of free speech.

New York Mayor Eric Adams says there’s no room for hate in the India Day parade. But his office says the US Constitution prevents the city from blocking the controversial float.Credit: AP

The Federation of Indian Associations, which runs Sunday’s event, said the parade represents India’s cultural diversity and would feature floats from a range of communities.

“There’s no room for hate,” Adams said at a press conference this week. “If there is a float or a person in the parade that’s promoting hate, they should not.”

Adams’ office later told AP that the US Constitution’s First Amendment right to free speech prevents the city from denying a permit or requiring that a float or parade’s message be changed simply because it did not agree with the content.

Hindus say the site in Ayodhya was holy to them long before Muslim Mughals razed a temple there to build the 1528 Babri mosque. The mosque’s destruction in 1992 was followed by nationwide riots that killed 2000 people, mainly Muslims. In 2019, the Indian Supreme Court handed the land over to Hindus.

Human rights experts say India has had a rise in attacks, including violence and discrimination, on minorities in recent years under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi denies those accusations.

The annual New York parade takes place three days after India’s Independence Day.

Reuters

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