(ANAHEIM, CA – 9/16/2022) – On Saturday, Sept. 17, the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA), the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), and Hindus for Human Rights, will hold a protest against a speaking engagement by anti-Muslim, anti-Christian Hindu extremist leader Sadhvi Ritambhara at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach, Calif.
Protest participants will call on the organizers to cancel the event with Sadhvi Ritambhara and to formally denounce her anti-Muslim and anti-Christian vitriol and the hateful ideology of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva).
WHAT: Public, peaceful protest against Hindu extremist leader Sadhvi Ritambhara and the event organizers
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, at 5:30 p.m. PT
WHERE: Outside the Hyatt Regency, Long Beach, CA (200 S Pine Ave., Long Beach, CA 90802)
Just recently on Sept. 10, 2022, the Old Paramus Reformed Church in New Jersey canceled her event following protests over her anti-minority stance in India.
SEE: New Jersey church cancels event with ‘divisive’ Hindu supremacist after backlash
BACKGROUND:
Sadhvi Ritambhara is the leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), one of India’s largest Hindu nationalist organizations described as a “militant religious outfit.” VHP has a long history of committing violent crimes against Indian minorities, including mob lynchings, looting minority-owned homes, raping women from minority communities, targeting church congregations with physical violence, and arson at mosques.
Ritambhara’s hate speeches have been described as “the single most powerful instrument for whipping up anti-Muslim violence” in various Indian states, leading to communal riots and thousands of deaths. Ritambhara is also well known for her anti-Christian hate and bigotry. She has suggested that if Christian missionaries were attempting to convert people in India and that if even a “single Hindu is converted, Christians will be wiped out from the face of India.”
CAIR-LA is Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice and empower American Muslims.
– END – CONTACT: CAIR-LA Social & Digital Manager Enjy El-Kadi, (714) 776-1847 or eelkadi@cair.com