New York

Mohammad Hamid Ansari (Former Vice President of India), Prof. Rajmohan Gandhi (Historian and a Grandson of Mohandas Gandhi) and Rev Dr. William Barber (Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign) to Address ReclaimingIndia@73 Virtual Conference, Oct 3rd and 4th, 2020 on Defending Democratic Values and Countering Hindu Nationalism and Casteism in both India and the United States 

RECLAIMING INDIA is a joint initiative of the global Indian diaspora, representing diverse voices, issues, identities, and their intersections. The core founding members of Reclaiming India Alliance are Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), Global Indian Progressive Alliance (GIPA), Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Students Against Hindutva Ideology (SAHI) and India Civil Watch International (ICWI).  Supporting orgs include:  

Plenary sessions include conversations between Indian historian and grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Dr. Rajmohan Gandhi, and Rev. Dr. William Barber, Co-Chair Poor People’s Campaign. 

Other speakers include Dr. Ramachandra Guha, Prashant Bhushan, Indira Jaising, Dr. Roja Singh, Martin Macwan, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Aatish Taseer and other leading activists, political leaders and thinkers. 

This two-day global dialogue on Reclaiming India will cover pressing immediate issues like curtailing free speech and civil liberties, casteism, racism and other pertinent topics to the US and India. 

Several other aspects of the Indian (and American) democracy, including the implications of the upcoming American election results on India, threats to minority rights and equality under the law, freedom of religion, the right to dissent, independence of the judiciary and press freedom will also be discussed. 

A panel of Indian, Indian American students and youth will talk about their important role in shaping the future of our two democracies.  

A concluding panel on the future course of Indian electoral politics is also planned. Participants will be updated on the event schedule.

Draft Conference Schedule: https://reclaimingindia.org/conference-schedule/ 

Sep 24th, 2020

Press contacts:

·         Sunita Viswanath, Hindus for Human Rights,9175182441, sunita@hindusforhumanrights.org

·         Dr. Manish Madan, Global Indian Progressive Alliance, 6098780508

·         Students Against Hindutva Ideology, holiagainsthindutva@gmail.com

·         Biju Mathew, India Civil Watch International, 9172328437

·         Rasheed Ahmed, Indian American Muslim Council, 6302901024

·         Reclaiming India, reclaiming.indiaa@gmail.com

 see program flier in PDF