Indian American Muslim Council

The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) (formerly Indian Muslim Council-USA) is an advocacy organization of Indian American Muslims with multiple chapters across the United States. The group works on strategic advocacy to promote pluralism and social justice in India. It monitors the political developments in India and raises issues pertaining to the safety and security of Muslims and other minority groups in India. It is a member of the Alliance Against Genocide, which works towards genocide prevention; and campaigns in collaboration with dozens of civil rights organizations.

INCEPTION

It was established on August 15, 2002, in response to the 2002 Gujarat riots. It was one of the organizations that advocated for a visa ban on Narendra Modi in 2005 for his alleged role in Gujarat violence in 2002, when he was serving as the Chief Minister of the state.

In 2004 IAMC organized a delegation of members of the U.S. Congress to Gujarat to bring international attention to the pogrom against Muslims under Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who was widely accused of actively allowing the widespread killings to occur.

CHAPTERS

IAMC has two dozen chapters and thousands of volunteers in 25 cities across the United States. The chapters are engaged in reaching out to their local lawmakers to bring issues related to the state of religious freedom in India. They also organize street protests and do media advocacy to highlight the persecution of social and religious minorities in India.

CONGRESSIONAL OUTREACH

Indian American Muslim Council works at the Capitol Hill and works with elected US officials and lawmakers to bring attention to issues that threaten democracy in India. Several American politicians such as Senator Ed Markey, Congressman Andy Levin, Congressman Jim Mc Govern, Congresswoman Marie Newman, (former) Congressman Joe Pitts, (former) Congressman Trent Franks have spoken on IAMC platforms and reprimanded Modi government, asking him to ensure religious freedoms in India.

Anti-CAA Resolutions in US Cities

When the Indian Parliament passed the discriminatory CAA in 2019, IAMC, along with its allies, campaigned in several cities in the U.S. to propose anti-CAA resolutions in the legislative branch of their city councils. Seattle in Washington, San Francisco in California, Cambridge City in Massachusetts, Hamtramck in Michigan, Saint Paul in Minnesota and Albany in New York State passed anti-CAA resolutions in their respective city councils.

CIVIL SOCIETY ADVOCACY

“Country of Particular Concern”

IAMC has done extensive advocacy with the United States Commission on International Religious Freedoms, USCIRF, leading to its recommendation to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern. USCIRF Chair and commissioners have regularly spoken at IAMC events.

International Religious Summit, 2021

A convention was held from July 12 to July 14, 2021, in Washington, DC, by a coalition of human rights organizations and groups to protect and defend International Religious Freedom. IAMC participated in the summit, held its panel discussion, as well as spoke on panels of other prominent organizations advocating for religious freedoms across the world.

United Nations Universal Periodic Review

Along with its allies, IAMC submitted its report in 2017 UPR.

PARTNERSHIPS

Over the decades, IAMC has worked alongside several globally recognized civil liberties organizations, individuals, academicians, and other stakeholders. Since 2021, IAMC has co-organized Congressional Briefings on issues of civil and political liberties, human rights and religious freedom concerning India along with 17 other organizations. They include:

CO-ORGANIZERS STATED ADVOCACY FOCUS
Amnesty International USA Amnesty International USA campaigns for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.
Genocide Watch Genocide Watch exists to predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder.
21 Wilberforce The organization aims to empower people of faith to collaboratively support persecuted communities of all faiths, challenge religious repression, and globally expand freedom of religion, belief, and conscience.
Hindus for Human Rights The organization supports pluralism, civil rights, and human rights in South Asia and North America.
International Christian Concern Its mission is to help religious minorities from all forms of persecution through assistance, advocacy, and awareness.
Jubilee Campaign USA Jubilee Campaign USA promotes the human rights and religious liberty of ethnic and religious minorities around the world,

works to restore the dignity of victims of human trafficking, and provides support to refugees.

Dalit Solidarity Forum DSF advocates against caste-based discrimination.
New York State Council of Churches It supports faith-based organizations by helping them organize and take legislative actions.
Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America FIACONA is a cultural, charitable and voluntary organization based in Washington DC representing the concerns and interests of over 1 million Indian American Christians across all 50 states.
India Civil Watch International Indian Civil Watch International (ICWI) is a non-sectarian left diasporic membership-based organization that represents the diversity of India’s people and anchors a transnational network to building radical democracy in India.
Students Against Hindutva Ideology Students Against Hindutva Ideology is an inter-university, inter-faith, progressive student coalition.
Center for Pluralism CfP advocates for the human rights and religious freedom of people across the world.
American Muslim Institution The organization’s aim is to build a greater understanding between American Muslims & fellow Americans by working together to create a more just inclusive and harmonious society.
International Society of Peace and Justice ISPJ advocates for the rights of Indian-American Muslims.
Association of Indian Muslims of America AIM-A advocates for the welfare of Indian Muslims and others in India.
The Humanism Project The Humanism Project is a collaborative effort of global Indian diaspora to counter the growing ‘hate & divisive agenda’ at work in India & abroad.
World Without Genocide World Without Genocide works to protect innocent people around the world; prevent genocide by combating racism and prejudice; advocate for the prosecution of perpetrators; and remember those whose lives and cultures have been destroyed by violence.

IMPENDING GENOCIDE OF INDIAN MUSLIMS

IAMC is working to bring global attention to the impending genocide of Indian Muslims, as alerted by Dr Gregory Stanton from Genocide Alert. In one of the congressional briefings led by IAMC 2019, Dr Stanton issued the Genocide alert for the state of Assam and Kashmir. He issued yet another genocide warning in Jan 2022 for Indian Muslims. He had predicted the Rwandan genocide years before it happened, as per his academic model Ten Stages of Genocide globally accepted as a system to predict and prevent genocide. Per the system, the stages are not linear and several may occur simultaneously. IAMC has been a part of several events, briefings and outreach activities that highlight the alarming state of Indian Muslims which has reached genocidal proportions, so that an impending genocide can be prevented, and democracy restored.

PROTESTS

IAMC’s grassroots members hold protests and demonstrations on all issues concerning the persecution of Indian minorities.

Protests against Anti Hijab Law in Karnataka (February 2022)

On Feb 15th, 2022, Karnataka State instituted a ban on hijab for school and college students. This action by the Karnataka government has been termed islamophobic and encroaching upon the religious freedom of Muslims in India by international media as well as many elected officials in the US. In response to these events in India, IAMC and its allies organized and participated in US-wide protests including in Dallas, Texas; Cambridge, MA; Manchester, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Santa Clara, California; Detroit, Michigan; Bellevue, Washington; Piscataway, New Jersey; and New York City.

Protest against Facebook for promoting hate speech in India (November 2021)

In November 2021, whistleblower Frances Haugen disclosed tens of thousands of Facebook’s internal documents to the Wall Street Journal and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Known as Facebook Files, these leaked documents revealed how Facebook (now Meta) knowingly allowed hate speech and calls for violence against like Muslims and Kashmiris in India to proliferate from its platform. The leaked files revealed that the vast network of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling party, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its ideological mentor, was running fake pages and deliberately spreading misinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence abetted by Facebook’s algorithms.


In response to these startling revelations, Indian Americans organized country-wide protests against Facebook/Meta. IAMC and its coalition partners were some of the key organizers of these protests. Protest demonstrations were carried out in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, and San Francisco’s Menlo Park, where Meta is headquartered. The protestors demanded that Facebook follow its protocol and designate as “dangerous organizations” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP; the Nazi-inspired RSS, and their armed affiliates Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.

New York

Led by IAMC and its allies, hundreds of Indian Americans held a massive protest near the United Nations headquarters in September 2019, when Prime Minister Modi addressed the U.N. General Assembly. The protest was held under the banner Coalition Against Fascism in India. Thousands of activists, academics and rights organizations supported the protest and spoke at the protest venue.


In September 2021, the Coalition to Stop Genocide in India again protested Modi’s visit to the United States as he visited New York to address the UN General Assembly. The protestors were human rights advocates, civil rights groups and interfaith leaders. They opposed the state-sanctioned discrimination, intimidation, persecution, physical attacks and killings of religious minorities by Hindu right-wing extremists in India, abetted by Modi’s BJP Party.

Houston

In Sep 2019, an event titled “Howdy, Modi!” was organized, where Modi and then U.S. President Donald Trump jointly addressed Indian Americans at Houston’s NRG Stadium. At this event, Modi endorsed Trump and encouraged Indian Americans to vote for Trump, as he said on the stage, saying, “Abki Baar Trump Sarkaar,” i.e., Vote for Trump.


Outside the NRG Stadium, thousands of Indian-Americans gathered to protest Modi’s visit, and to “expose the undemocratic, anti-people and anti-minorities agenda of Mr. Modi’s government and the BJP party.” This massive protest was organized by the Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA). IAMC was one of the several organizations that comprised AJA.

Anti-CAA Protests on January 26, 2020

In the wake of India’s discriminatory, anti-Muslim Citizenship Laws, Indian Americans again took to the streets in 30 cities across the US. These protests were carried out under an umbrella coalition named Coalition to Stop Genocide in India, of which IAMC is a prominent member. The protestors’ demands were as follows:

  • US Government should censor Indian Home Minister Amit Shah per USCIRF Recommendation
  • US Government should ask Indian Government to repeal CAA
  • India must stop State repression and police brutality on anti-CAA protesters
  • India must immediately punish guilty police officials for the killing 30 protesters
  • India must stop the National Population Register (NPR) which aims to target Muslims and disenfranchise them
  • India must safeguard Constitutionally mandated equal civil rights and liberties

MEDIA AND CONTROVERSIES

IAMC-led advocacy and protests have routinely appeared in American and international media. The human rights violations by the Indian government that IAMC seeks to highlight and correct are addressed and acknowledged by all leading media houses and global civil rights groups.



In a special congressional briefing organized by IAMC and its allies on January 26, 2022, on the occasion of India’s 73rd Republic Day, Ex-Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari, Senator Ed Markey,  expressed serious concern over the state of religious minorities in India, shrinking religious freedoms, and dwindling democracy. The Indian media attacked IAMC for holding an anti-India event and labeled the speakers of the event, especially the only Muslim speaker Ex VP Hamid Ansari, as “anti-India”.

Past developments

On October 10 2020, the Indian American Muslim Council organized a protest in New Jersey over the gang rape and killing of a Dalit girl in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. According to IndiaWest newspaper, "The hasty and forceful cremation of the victim's body by the Uttar Pradesh police has sent shock waves across India and indeed around the world." ... "The protest was organized by the New Jersey unit of AIMC, and was supported by members of other civil society groups such as Hindus for Human Rights, India Civil Watch, Sadhana, Students Against Hindutva Ideology, Muslims for Progressive Values, MANAVI, Dalit Solidarity Forum and Global Indian Progressive Alliance, among others."[1]

See also

References
  1. Indian American Muslim Council Holds Protest in New Jersey Over India Gang Rape Killing IndiaWest (newspaper), Published 15 October 2020, Retrieved 10 January 2022

Bibliography
  • Mishra, Sangay K. (2016), Desis Divided: The Political Lives of South Asian Americans, University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 9781452949918
  • Mishra, Sangay K. (2021), "Hindu nationalism and Indian American diasporic mobilizations", in Ruben Gowricharn (ed.), New Perspectives on the Indian Diaspora, Taylor & Francis, pp. 59–77, ISBN 9781000412574
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