Palestine: Hundreds Gather in Mumbai to Denounce Israeli Genocide

Hundreds of people, including activists, intellectuals, film makers, and political leaders gathered in India’s second biggest city, Mumbai, on Wednesday, August 20, to protest the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and demand Indian government break all ties with the Zionist regime in Israel.

Despite heavy rains in the city, protesters gathered in Azad Maidan, carrying Palestinian and communist flags. They also carried various banners with slogans denouncing Israeli apartheid in the occupied territories. The banners also called Israel’s continued massacres of people in Gaza as genocide and expressed support for a free Palestinian state.

Declaring “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” protesters also chanted slogans against the Indian government’s foreign policy vis-a-vis Israel, pointing out the shameful nexus of Hindutva and Zionism.

The protest meeting was collectively organized by India’s major opposition parties such as Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Samajwadi Party, Indian National Congress (INC), and several other progressive groups.

The protest meeting was also organized to express defiance to the policy of silencing the pro-Palestinian voices followed by the current government in the country. The Indian government tried to term such meetings irrelevant to Indians and declared them illegal.

The Mumbai police had arrested several organizers and termed the protest illegal when it was first scheduled on June 19. When the organizers went to court against the police action, instead of standing with them, the judges questioned the logic of such protests, claiming the organization of such protests may harm India’s foreign policy interests and even called the organizers “unpatriotic”.

The court’s observations led to massive public outcry, with several people calling it the judiciary’s surrender in front of the executive pressures and an attempt to scuttle the democratic spaces in the country in complete violation of India’s constitutional provisions.

The organizers filed another petition in the same court demanding their right to protest. During the hearing on the second petition on August 12 the Mumbai police decided to withdraw its objections and allow the protest.

Closeness between Hindutva and Zionism

Speaking during the meeting, senior journalist P Sainath questioned the logic of the judges, citing examples of Palestinian solidarity from the days of India’s anti-colonial struggles. He asserted that the issue of Palestine is not a remote issue as the judges claimed, it is a “super local” issue for all Indians because every Indian considers Palestine his/her personal matter.

Several other speakers highlighted how Israel is deliberately killing Palestinians by bombing residential areas, shelters, and even hospitals since October 7, 2023, and killing over 60,000 people so far. They refuted the justification of self-defense provided by Israel, claiming the war against Palestinians did not begin on October 7 and resistance against the Israeli occupation is a right of the Palestinians.

Some speakers pointed out how Israel has been systematically using hunger to carry out its genocide in Gaza. They called the starvation among Palestinians in Gaza a deliberate Israeli move and demanded global action against the inhumane act of using aid as a weapon in war.

Speakers also pointed out that the Israeli genocide in Gaza is sponsored by the US and other European countries who are providing weapons and political aid to the Zionist regime to carry on the killing and destruction in Gaza.

Sainath also condemned the Indian government’s betrayal of the Palestinian cause both inside and outside the UN, underlining the long legacy of Indian solidarity with anti-colonial movements across the world.

Speakers noted how India’s repeated abstentions on resolutions in the UN condemning the genocide or demanding a ceasefire is a sign of the moral and political bankruptcy of India’s foreign policy pursued under the government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Filmmaker Saeed Mirza pointed out that India’s failure to officially stand with Palestine at this time of deep crisis is a result of the growing ideological closeness between Zionism and Hindutva, which has been forged by India’s right wing. Both these ideologies are rooted in fanatic beliefs of religious victimhood.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch