By IndiaTomorrow.net,
London/New Delhi, 13 November 2015: As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained a façade of calm during his three-day United Kingdom visit starting 12 November, hundreds greeted him with noisy protests in London right in the beginning of his sojourn.
In protest against the “patriarchal violence and misogyny perpetrated by the RSS” and Modi’s “mum” over the issue, a large number of Indian-origin people organized a massive protest yesterday on 12 November outside Downing Street in London — right at the moment and place where Modi met British Prime Minister David Cameron. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological mentor of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
London Mayoral candidate George Galloway also reportedly attended the protest organized by the Awaaz Network, which has been actively campaigning against the British Government welcoming Modi. The group’s anti-Modi campaign #ModiNotWelcome #NotInOurName has a conglomeration of groups from across the UK.
As Modi met Cameron, demonstrators were chanting slogans like “Modi, Modi! Shame, shame” and “Modi, Modi! You can’t hide; you committed genocide” — with fascinating posters reading in bold letters “Babri to Dadri — BJP’s Agenda is Bloodshed.”
The Awaaz Network includes the Freedom Without Fear Platform, which recently also organized “Reclaim Diwali,” a cultural event celebrating resistance to the majoritarian politics in India. Members of the network also wrote an open letter to Modi, which was endorsed by all the UK’s major The Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) women’s organizations combatting violence against women, and more than 20 prominent South Asian women academics.
