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

Reconsider your views on Ivermectin and Chief Minister Adityanath’s management of Covid-19 in India.
Reconsider your validation of Chief Minister Adityanath given his deeply troubling background of bigotry and Islamophobia.
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

Grueling summer ahead: Cuttack’s alarming health trends and what they mean for Odisha

By Sudhansu R Das The preparation to face the summer should begin early in Odisha. People in the state endure long, grueling summer months starting from mid-February and extending until the end of October. This prolonged heat adversely affects productivity, causes deaths and diseases, and impacts agriculture, tourism and the unorganized sector. The social, economic and cultural life of the state remains severely disrupted during the peak heat months.

Stronger India–Russia partnership highlights a missed energy breakthrough

By N.S. Venkataraman* The recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India was widely publicized across several countries and has attracted significant global attention. The warmth with which Mr. Putin was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was particularly noted, prompting policy planners worldwide to examine the implications of this cordial relationship for the global economy and political climate. India–Russia relations have stood on a strong foundation for decades and have consistently withstood geopolitical shifts. This is in marked contrast to India’s ties with the United States, which have experienced fluctuations under different U.S. administrations.

From natural farming to fair prices: Young entrepreneurs show a new path

By Bharat Dogra There have been frequent debates on agro-business companies not showing adequate concern for the livelihoods of small farmers. Farmers’ unions have often protested—generally with good reason—that while they do not receive fair returns despite high risks and hard work, corporate interests that merely process the crops produced by farmers earn disproportionately high profits. Hence, there is a growing demand for alternative models of agro-business development that demonstrate genuine commitment to protecting farmer livelihoods.

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

The cost of being Indian: How inequality and market logic redefine rights

By Vikas Gupta We, the people of India, are engaged in a daily tryst—read: struggle—for basic human rights. For the seemingly well-to-do, the wish list includes constant water supply, clean air, safe roads, punctual public transportation, and crime-free neighbourhoods. For those further down the ladder, the struggle is starker: food that fills the stomach, water that doesn’t sicken, medicines that don’t kill, houses that don’t flood, habitats at safe distances from polluted streams or garbage piles, and exploitation-free environments in the public institutions they are compelled to navigate.

Why India must urgently strengthen its policies for an ageing population

By Bharat Dogra A quiet but far-reaching demographic transformation is reshaping much of the world. As life expectancy rises and birth rates fall, societies are witnessing a rapid increase in the proportion of older people. This shift has profound implications for public policy, and the need to strengthen frameworks for healthy and secure ageing has never been more urgent. India is among the countries where these pressures will intensify most sharply in the coming decades.

Thota Sitaramaiah: An internal pillar of an underground organisation

By Harsh Thakor* Thota Sitaramaiah was regarded within his circles as an example of the many individuals whose work in various underground movements remained largely unknown to the wider public. While some leaders become visible through organisational roles or media attention, many others contribute quietly, without public recognition. Sitaramaiah was considered one such figure. He passed away on December 8, 2025, at the age of 65.

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Search This Blog