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LONDON - British Indians projected the words "Modi not welcome" onto the parliament building on Sunday evening in a bold show of protest against the Indian prime minister’s visit to the UK next week, the International Business Times newspaper reported on Monday.
Narendra Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to visit the UK in nearly a decade when he lands on November 12. The Awaaz Network have been leading the protest movement against Modi's UK visit, mobilising people to join them in a protest march against India’s top leader on the day he is scheduled to speak at Britain’s Parliament.
"Narendra Modi wants to sell the idea of a 'Digital India', a 'clean India' and a developed and self-sufficient India," a spokesperson for the Awaaz Network said. "The reality is the unleashing of a violence authoritarian agenda that seeks to undermine India's democratic and secular fabric," the spokesperson added.
As the anti-Modi projection lit up parliament, Awaaz Network tweeted that the prime minister "has overseen the pre-planned killings of innocents in Gujarat" in an apparent reference to the 2002 Gujarat riots, where inter-communal violence killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims.
A number of different organisations have joined Awaaz Network to support the campaign against Modi, such as South Asia Solidarity Group, Sikh Federation UK, Southall Black Sisters, Dalit Solidarity Network UK, Indian Muslim Federation, Indian Workers Association, Muslim Parliament, and Voice of Dalit International. On November7, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen also urged the UK to question the Indian prime minister during his visit.
Modi - who was Gujrat’s chief minister in 2002 - was accused of initiating and condoning the violence. It resulted in Britain – along with the US and other European countries – implementing a 10-year diplomatic boycott on Modi, during which he was not allowed to enter the UK. However, in 2012 the Supreme Court of India cleared Modi of involvement in the riots and Britain subsequently lifted the ban on him.
Modi ‘not welcome’ in UK