Ekta, a South Asian discussion group based around South Asian identities, hosted “Stop Genocide in India: A Student Demonstration,” to raise Washington University’s awareness of rising fascism and Islamophobia overseas Feb. 20.

Photo by Christine Watridge

The group protested against India’s Citizenship Amendment Bill, which has sparked international controversy because it grants asylum and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan without extending the same opportunity to Muslim immigrants.

The demonstration was hosted at noon in the Danforth University Center courtyard, where the members gathered to read speeches related to the issue and recited chants such as, “Two-four-six-eight, Stop the violence, stop the hate! Two-four-six-eight, dismantle the fascist state!” and “When human rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

The members chose to frame the event as a demonstration instead of a rally or protest because their primary intent was to inform students and faculty of the situation.

“What this does is it fast tracks Muslims to be illegal and stateless citizens in the country,” MFA student Sanam Sheriff said during the demonstration. “It fast tracks queer people, poor people… it is genocide, it’s underway, and when this law passed in December, it was met with mass… protests on a really large scale. And these protests were met with state-sanctioned police brutality, police raiding libraries and universities beating up students.”

Ekta was created in January 2019 after putting together a political performance during the Diwali performances in collaboration with Ashoka, another South Asian cultural affinity group on campus. The performance was dedicated to the revocation of Article 370, which granted special status and autonomy to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Junior Siddhi Vora, one of Ekta’s community organizers, pointed out that Harvard University made a petition against the bill and cities such as Seattle have held similar protests, but the organization has yet to hear from Washington University or St. Louis.

“We’re hoping this demonstration will be a stepping stone towards a St. Louis-wide protest because we haven’t heard anything coming out of St. Louis, whereas a lot of different cities throughout the country have been doing things,” Vora said.

Part of the organization’s goal is to encourage other South Asian students to get involved in political causes, even when they are not directly affected by injustice.

“There’s no reason to be apolitical when we have so much privilege,” Ekta organizer senior Tanvi Kohli said.

Ekta held an event with a similar mission this semester, “Stop Genocide in India: Standing in Solidarity Nationwide,” a discussion held Jan. 26 aimed to give students the tools to become educated, discuss and organize by writing letters to their representatives and Indian embassies. In November, the organization hosted “Jaago: A Gallery and Discussion About Kashmir,” to promote transnational activism and solidarity.

The organization currently meets weekly to host discussions on different issues related to the South Asian diaspora. Past discussions have covered South Asian representation in popular culture and failure, with yesterday’s discussion covering family.

Vora and Kohli both heard about the law in December. After not hearing much talk about it in the United States or at the University specifically, they wanted to take action and gain the attention of University students through their organization.

“The silence was kind of deafening and overpowering at times because we could see there’s a genocide that’s taking root in India. And we were like, ‘We have this diasporic privilege, we need to do something,'” Kohli said.

The organization hopes to host events with other cultural affinity groups at the University in the future and ultimately hopes to get as many students involved in their mission by designing programming that has political, social and creative appeal.

“We talk about solidarity and allyship a lot, but it doesn’t mean anything when it’s not accompanied by action,” Vora said.