Skip to main content

Supporting bigotry, Islamophobia? Diaspora NGO opposes Australian MP's views on Yogi

Counterview Desk 

Humanism Project, an Australian civil rights organisation with large number of India diaspora as its members, has a shot letter to letter Craig Kelly, member of Parliament from Member for Hughes, New South Wales (NSW), on his alleged effort to spread misinformation about Covid-19 and his “inadequately informed” views about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Telling Kelly that his view comes even as Australia is struggling with the resurgence Covid-19 epidemic in NSW, the letter insists, it is “important that our parliamentarians do not support misinformation on Covid-19”, accusing him of siding with Adityanath, who has been a protagonist of “bigotry and Islamophobia.”

Text:

We are an Australian civil society organisation that represents the interests of the Indian diaspora in Australia. We write to you in relation to your tweet congratulating Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his use of Ivermectin to control the Covid-19 pandemic. You can access your tweet here.
We are concerned that your views on Ivermectin, Chief Minister Adityanath and his management of Covid-19 pandemic in India have been inadequately informed. We detail our concerns below.
Your views on Ivermectin
The role of Ivermectin in eliminating Covid-19 in lab studies was first postulated in Monash University-led collaborative study. As evident from the link, Ivermectin was never deemed to be suitable for treating Covid-19 in humans.
The Australian Department of Health (DoH) notes that there is currently insufficient evidence to support the safe and effective use of ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of Covid-19. You can access the DoH recommendations here.
The DoH recommendations have been validated by the British Medical Journal of Evidence Based Medicine (accessible here) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations from US (accessible here).
As evident above, the current evidence based guidelines do not support the use of Ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of Covid-19.
Your views on Chief Minister Adityanath and his management of Covid -19

This BBC report (accessible here) reported that during the Covid-19 pandemic, India's holiest river, the Ganges was swollen with bodies. The Ganges flows through Uttar Pradesh - the state governed by Chief Minister Adityanath.
A journalist told the BBC said he believed that many of the bodies were either Covid patients who died at home without a test, or poor people who couldn't afford a cremation. Another journalist told the BBC the corpses were evidence of massive discrepancy between the Chief Minister Adityanath’s government’s official Covid-19 death figures and the actual numbers on the ground.
This was also covered in many large national and international news media outlets like ABC (accessible here), Reuters (accessible here) and Washington Post (accessible here).
Chief Minister Adityanath's gross mismanagement of Covid -19 therefore caused death and suffering for many Indians. Chief Minister Adityanath is also known to flaunt his bigotry like a badge of honour and does not disguise his hatred and contempt for Indian Muslims, Christians and other oppressed sections of the Indian society.
He actively promotes Islamophobia and has sought to annihilate the livelihoods of many poor Muslims through his weaponisation of law and the police for overtly majoritarian political ends. This is evident from the article on Chief Minister Adityanath here.
In addition, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's (USCIRF), in its recent briefing on June 21 2020, raised concerns about mosque demolitions, hate speech against minorities in Chief Minister Adityanath state of Uttar Pradesh. You can access the report here.
Your validation of Chief Minister Adityanath and his management of Covid-19 pandemic is therefore deeply hurtful and troubling to many Australian Indians. As we struggle with the resurgence Covid-19 epidemic in NSW, we do feel that it is important that we do not support misinformation on Covid-19.
It is also important that we don’t enable leaders who spread bigotry and Islamophobia. Consequent to the above, could we please ask that you
  1. Reconsider your views on Ivermectin and Chief Minister Adityanath’s management of Covid-19 in India.
  2. Reconsider your validation of Chief Minister Adityanath given his deeply troubling background of bigotry and Islamophobia.
  3. Consider condemning Chief Minister Adityanath’s assault on religious freedoms in India with particular reference to mosque demolitions, hate speech against Christians, Muslims and his efforts to annihilate the livelihoods of many poor Muslims in his state. Many thanks for considering our concerns and request above.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.