On Wednesday, the Indian Business Association (IBA) in Edison, New Jersey, refused to apologize for featuring a bulldozer at the Indian Independence day Parade in the town. Chandrakant Patel, the chairman of the IBA at the Township Council meeting said that his organisation would not be apologizing for the incident because they had done nothing wrong.
The Township Council meeting went on for four hours in which several residents from the town presented their opinion on the matter. “The bulldozer only represents the demolishing of illegal structures on government land (in India)”, Patel said.
The saga began on August 14 when hundreds of Indian Americans walked through the streets of Edison to celebrate India’s 75th Independence Day. The organizers of the event decorated the event with posters of Indian PM Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. They also rolled bulldozers on the streets and named them ‘Baba ka Bulldozer’.
The incident attracted eyeballs as Indian Muslims raised objections over the bulldozers and said that the organisation had brought the ‘symbol of hatred- the bulldozer’ on the streets of Edison. They said that they were angry with the IBA for this act and alleged that the organisation had attempted to create division in New Jersey now.
Several other organisations like Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Hindus for Human Rights also supported the protesters and demanded action against the IBA. “In the name of an India parade, they are parading the racist Hindutva ideology, through the streets of Edison”, one of the activist stated.
The Indian Muslims in Edison also criticized Edison Township’s Council Member Ajay Patil for refraining from condemning the incident. He is also the vice president of the IBA. “He should have said nothing or should have been part of the solution, instead he diminished the feelings of people”, the Catholic residents joined.
At the meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by several other town members, the Hindu representatives and supporters of IBA said that bulldozers were not symbol of hatred, but were symbol of ‘law and order’ in India. They argued that the Indian Muslim complaints were baseless and disrespectful to the Indian government as well as to Hinduism.
“Calling it a symbol of hate, is totally uncalled for…” he added. He continued to say look at how minorities are treated in Pakistan… there are boos and interruptions from the audience. Council intervenes.
— Azad Essa (@azadessa) August 25, 2022
Another IBA supporter named Bimal Joshi said that he had lots of respect for the Muslim community. However, he said that the claims put up by the Muslims in the town were baseless. “If they (Muslims) try to portray that someone is doing a hatred in this town, no, that is wrong,”
“In America if someone is doing the illegal stuff; if someone is burning the property of the government, then government takes the action. India is the largest democracy in the world. If someone tries to disrespect our Prime Minister and calls him a Hitler, they should know what is Hitler. Know the history”, Joshi added.
Meanwhile one of the residents alleged that the IBA did deliberately what they did on the India’s Independence Day in Edison. “I am from the neighboring town. I was brought up Catholic. When you celebrate independence you don’t celebrate destruction. I know someone from the IBA who said we should celebrate Godse, the man who killed Gandhi. The bulldozer was meant to bully”, he claimed.
He continues: “They took the bulldozer to the area where there are muslim businesses. They knew what they were doing. Muslims are impacted the most, but they are also going after Christians. Hindutva is a political ideology, not a religion.”
— Azad Essa (@azadessa) August 25, 2022
“They took the bulldozer to the area where there are Muslim businesses. They knew what they were doing. Muslims are impacted the most, but they are also going after Christians. Hindutva is a political ideology, not a religion”, he added.
However, Patel, the IBA chairman stated that the city had already been informed that the bulldozers would be the part of I-Day procession in Edison. “We even took permission from the township at parade preparation meeting where we presented our plans for the parade. We told them why we were bringing the bulldozer”, he was quoted.
Earlier, on August 19, the Mayor of Edison took cognizance of the event and condemned the incident. He said that ‘symbol of hate and discrimination were not welcome in the town’. He had criticized the IBA and demanded an apology from the organizers.
Reports mention that around 4.2 million Indians live in the United States and more than 50 per cent of Indian Americans approve and appreciate the performance of Indian Prime Minister Modi. “This support is greatest among Republicans, Hindus, people in the engineering profession, those not born in the United States, and those who hail from North and West India”, the report was quoted.
Update: On August 30, 2022, however, Patel has apologised for using the bulldozer in the Independence Day parade.
