Far-right Hindu groups to hold 'anti-Muslim' temple float in NYC parade

A carnival float organised by far-right Hindu groups featuring a Hindu temple that is planned for an upcoming India Day Parade in New York City has sparked controversy, with a number of groups calling it anti-Muslim and saying it should be removed from the event.

The float depicts a temple to the Hindu diety Ram, which was consecrated earlier this year on a site in Ayodhya, India, believed to be his birthplace. But the temple site has long been bitterly contested between Hindus and Muslims, and in the early 1990s a 500-year-old mosque that stood there was razed by a Hindu fundamentalist mobs backed by extremist Hindu lawmakers.

Some US-based organisations have written a letter to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, calling the float anti-Muslim and saying it glorified the mosque's takedown.

Among groups who signed the letter were the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Human Rights.

"This float presence represents these groups' desire to conflate Hindu nationalist ideology with Indian identity," the organisation and others wrote in a letter.

"This is not merely a cultural display, but a vulgar celebration of anti-Muslim heat, bigotry, and religious supremacy."

The far-right Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), which is organising the float, says it represents a Hindu place of worship and aims to glorify a deity seen as an important part of Indian and Hindu identity. The Hindu American Foundation said it was an exercise of free speech.

VHPA is a US offshoot of India's Vishwa Hindu Parishad, designated as a "militant religious organisation" by the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook for years.

The Federation of Indian Associations, which runs Sunday's event, said the parade represents India's cultural diversity and will feature floats from a range of communities.

"There's no room for hate," Adams said at a press conference earlier this week. "If there is a float or a person in the parade that's promoting hate, they should not."

Adams' office later told the Associated Press that the US Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech prevents the city from denying a permit or requiring that a float or parade's message be changed simply because it does not agree with the content.

In a follow-up email late on Thursday, Adams' office said the mayor has no plans to attend Sunday’s parade, which he has attended in years past.

Claims and counter-claims

Hindus claim the site in Ayodhya was holy to them long before Mughals razed a temple there to build the 1528 Babri Masjid, destroyed in 1992 by Hindu zealots. Muslims offered prayers inside Babri mosque until 1949 when idols were placed inside the mosque by far-right Hindu priests.

It was in 1853 when a Hindu sect claimed that a temple was destroyed during Babur’s rule to make way for the mosque.

The mosque's destruction in 1992 was followed by nationwide riots that killed some 2,000 people, mainly Muslims. In 2019, the Indian Supreme Court handed over the land to Hindus though it did not uphold the claim that Babri Masjid was built by demolishing a temple.

Two Indian archeologists, Supriya Varma and Jaya Menon say there is no archeological evidence that there was a temple under the Babri Masjid and the architectural fragments found by Indian government's Archeological Survey of India "are actually older mosques."

VHP, one of the main driver of the Babri Masjid demolition campaign, has since 2019 set its sights on other historical mosques in India.

Human rights experts say India has seen a rise in attacks, including violence and discrimination, on minorities in recent years under Hindu far-right Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusations that Modi denies.

Hindus make up about 80 percent of India's population, but the country is also home to about 200 million Muslims who have frequently come under attack by Hindu extremists.