The participants discussed the possibility of a strategy to defeat Hindutva mindset in the country.
“A wave of right-wing nationalism and racism has swept across India ever since the Modi government came to power,” said Aamna Rashid, a WDF member who led and moderated the discussion. “We first saw how Kashmir was stripped of its special status as Articles 370 and 35-A were revoked. And then the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens were introduced.” According to her, the anti-Muslim discrimination against the country's largest minority is an integral part of the vile Hindutva-chauvinist campaign by the Modi government against Muslims. “While Muslims protesting against this Hindutva campaign are facing the brunt of the state, leftists from the majority religion are also not being spared,” she said.
“We are holding this discussion with our comrades across the border as an expression of internationalist solidarity,” said Rashid. “The Women Democratic Front stands in solidarity with Indian Muslims and all those who are protesting in India in these pressing times.”
One of the speakers from India, Sudeeti GM, who organises with Pinjra Tod and is an MA student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), spoke about the nature of women’s leadership and participation in the movement. She described how the Indian Left is trying to imagine an anti-fascist struggle against the BJP.
The other speaker from India, Dipshita Dhar, who is the All India Joint Secretary of the Students Federation of India and PhD scholar at JNU, said: “Thousands of students and youth like me have taken to the streets for a secular India. We are here to defend our country. We are here to defend our Constitution.”