(prompted by this a.m's WBAI radio show)
<http://www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org/index.php>
> The Coalition Against Genocide includes a spectrum of organizations
> and individuals in the United States that have come together in
> response to the Gujarat genocide to demand accountability and
> justice.
>
> The Coalition Against Genocide is protesting the visit of Narendra
> Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, a state in western India, to the
> United States in March 2005.
>
> Narendra Modi has been invited by the Asian American Hotel Owner's
> Association (AAHOA) as chief guest for the AAHOA Annual Convention
> and Trade Show to be held at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward
> County Convention Center in Florida on March 24-26, 2005. Mr. Modi is
> also speaking at Madison Square Garden in New York on March 20.
>
> In Gujarat, between February 28 and March 02, 2002, under Narendra
> Modi's leadership, more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were
> killed, aided and abetted by the state. In the aftermath, 200,000
> people have been rendered homeless and internally displaced. Three
> years later, the victims of the violence still await justice and
> reparations. Narendra Modi and the Gujarat Government not only failed
> to take preventative measures against those who were planning the
> violence with his knowledge, but undertook a series of actions which
> either tacitly or explicitly condoned the genocidal violence, which
> included torture of children and mass rapes of women. The Government
> of Gujarat continues to harass and discriminate against its Christian
> and Muslim minority populations, tribal peoples and other
> marginalized groups, as well as progressive activists and
> intellectuals, with new policies and prejudiced application of
> existing laws. Under Mr. Modi's leadership, more than 2,000 of 4,000
> cases filed by the victims of the violence were never investigated or
> dismissed, leading the Supreme Court of India to rebuke both the
> Gujarat judiciary and the Government of Gujarat for its handling of
> the cases, and transferring several cases out of the state for trial.
> Mr. Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the
> ultra-nationalist Hindu fundamentalist group, which, along with other
> Hindu extremist groups, receive funds from charities in the United
> States and the United Kingdom. Mr. Modi is in violation of the
> International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and other international
> laws, and there are currently two civil suits filed against him for
> crimes against humanity and genocide.
--ravi