Friday, 13 November 2015

Muhammed Butt should stand against Modi's politics of communalism

Wembley awaits Modi       Photo: Francis Henry
Guest blog by Sujata Aurora. This is also published as a letter in the current edition of the Brent and Kilburn Times LINK

 Today Wembley Stadium will play host to Narendra Modi, the current PM of India, in an extravaganza that has been welcomed by Muhammed Butt, the leader of Brent Council.

Narendra Modi is a former worker for the RSS, a violent, fascist, Hindu supremacist group who openly admire Hitler. His party, the BJP, retains strong links with the RSS and the two are umbilically connected. Both are responsible for what has been termed a "growing mood of intolerance" towards minorities in India but as Arundhati Roy has observed, "'Intolerance' is the wrong word to use for the lynching, shooting, burning and mass murder of fellow human beings."

Modi himself is accused of personally orchestrating the Gujarat violence in 2002 during which around 2000 people, mainly Muslims, died in what has been termed a modern genocide - some of the worst communal violence India has seen. As chief minister it is thought that Modi allowed the charred bodies of 54 Hindu victims of the Godhra train fire to be paraded in the streets of Ahmedabad, directed senior police officers not to interfere if Hindus sought revenge and placed cabinet colleagues in the police control rooms to ensure compliance with his directives.

Contrary to what Modi's supporters say, Modi has not been given a "clean chit" by India's Supreme Court for his role in the violence - in fact the case has never been heard in the Supreme Court and legal action by the families of some of the victims (including three victims from Britain) is still ongoing.

That Muhammed Butt and some of his councillor colleagues think it appropriate to welcome such a person to Brent is a shameful stain on the name of what was once regarded as a tolerant borough. There is still time for them to change their minds and join the many Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Dalit groups who stand against the politics of religious hatred and communalism, and say Narendra Modi is not welcome here.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is shocking! What on earth is Butt thinking?

Alison Hopkins said...

That there's a lot of votes to be won by supporting Modi of course.

Martin Francis said...

As Barry Gardiner (Labour) and Bob Blackman (Conservative) fully realise.

Anonymous said...

It's just his way of being inclusive?
If he's alright by David Cameron then he's alright by me?
What's wrong with working for the Royal Statistical Society?
We're both charismatic leaders so we've got a lot in common?
Let's keep politics out of this?
It'll bring much-needed business to local enterprises?
It'll show solidarity with the local cow community?
I thought they were booking Moby?
All of the above?

Mike Hine

Nan Tewari said...

This is all terribly awkward.

Our poor PM can hardly preach to Modi as Cameron not only supports Saudi Arabia and its slavery laws, he has also been inclusive enough to extend those slavery laws into this country. Thus we have a group of domestic 'slave' workers over here who are not afforded the protections of being able to leave abusive and exploitative employers out of fear of being deported. They don't even have the right to strike. Then again...........

There's obviously much to be said for this 'globalisation' phenomenon.

Anonymous said...

How did we allow India's version of the Taliban into our country, and the Queen and PM even fed and entertained him. India has some of the worst human rights record when it comes to women. Get him out.

Anonymous said...

and they wouldn't even let 2 Live Crew or Snoop Dogg in and they just wanted to sing lmao. This is seriously messed up.

Anonymous said...

He doesn't care, not about his muslim brothers, sikhs, hindu's or anyone else for that matter, just another photo opportunity, in the life of Chairman Mo

Meg Howarth said...

RSVP Muhammed Butt?

Unknown said...

I've been told that Cllr Butt is justifying himself by saying that even Jeremy Corbyn is meeting PM Modi. I hope that someone will point out to him that Jeremy Corbyn having a private meeting at which he will raise issues of human rights is quite different from participating in a jamboree designed to rehabilitate someone accused of orchestrating genocide.

Anonymous said...

Bit subtle for Butt I'd have thought. Could you draw him a picture? (He'd have to be in it, obviously).

Mike Hine

Alison Hopkins said...

I tweeted something last night that was a tad derogatory about Modi. In reply, I had something like a hundred plus replies from Tweeters in India. All male, interestingly. All pretty unpleasant, includng some threats - indeed, some of the perp's timelines had some vile stuff about the rape culture in India. I was accused of being, and I quote, a "Muzzie" by several.

Makes me wonder even more about the man, if his supporters are like that. Perhaps I'm being unfair, but I'm not convinced.

Anonymous said...

Alison, maybe if you're still wondering about Modi or are unconvinced you shouldn't be tweeting derogatory things about him? Or are you just jumping on a bandwagon in order to bash Muhammad Butt?

I'm not saying this Modi chap is undeserving of criticism, he may well be, but your interest in this does sound a little... how shall I put it... opportunistic?

Alison Hopkins said...

I've no doubts about Modi's unpleasantness and venality whatsoever. My Twitter and Facebook timelines will show that. The comment about unfairness was whether it was fair to assume his supporters were as bad as he is. He certainly encourages a pretty revolting mindset.

Opportunistic? I'd say a Brent councillor hiding behind anonymity yet again is the one being opportunistic, old son. What are you afraid of? The Glorious Leader? Dear Dawn?

I didn't mention Butt in my original posts, by the way. You did that.

Anonymous said...

What is this obsession this guy has with you, Alison? You'd imagine there might be a few things more important to concern himself with currently. Just name him (though I'm not sure you'd shame him).

Anonymous said...

Yes Alison, if you're so sure you know you know who this person is then name him

Anonymous said...

I thought the event was great!

Anonymous said...

People spoke very well of the Nuremberg rallies .......

Anonymous said...

I know the man. I recognise his style. For future ref he is S.Talker.

Anonymous said...

Any idea what the S stands for?

Alison Hopkins said...

16:50 In my experience, getting the sort of reaction from someone like 00:34 that seems to happen indicates that one is seen as a threat. I find that quite interesting. And the persondoes amuse me, if that's the right word: as you say, there's bigger things out there.

If I named S.Talker (like that!), the perp would deny it, anyhow.

Alison Hopkins said...

09:38 Brilliant.

guptabrij said...



Nice blog keep on wring more like these it will also motivate us
Why are Modi supporters still supporting him?