Imran Yaqub
New York
A top American advertising company has refused to run digital advertisements for extremist Hindu groups planning to showcase images of the god Ram on screens in New York’s iconic Times Square. The ads were brand for August 5, when the temple’s groundbreaking ceremony would takes place in Ayodhya, according to a coalition of Muslim groups in the United States.
In a press release, the coalition said that ‘Branded Cities’ — the company which manages digital advertisement board for Nasdaq — an American stock exchange, in Times Square, had agreed not to run the Hindutva group’s advertisements following its representations.
The coalition comprises of Indian Minorities Advocacy Network (ImanNet), Justice for All, Coalition of Americans for Pluralism in India (CAPI), North American Indian Muslim Association (NAIMA), Islamic Circle of North America -Social Justice (ICNASJ) and The International Society for Peace and Justice.
These groups have been contacting the Mayor of New York, the City Council of New York, the governor, senators, and members of House of Representatives to stop the right-wing Hindu groups from advertising on Times Square billboards.
The Muslim groups have come together in the US as a coalition to promote the cause of Babri Masjid, which was destroyed by Hindu hard-liners in December 1992, sparking massive violence that left some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead.
According to the press release put out by the coalition, Dennis Levine of Branded Cities, confirmed the decision not to run the advertisements. The company “also reassured that Branded Cities and Nasdaq oppose the demolition of Babri Masjid and will never allow any supremacist groups to run their advertisements.
Dr Shaik Ubaid, the President of ImanNet called this a great victory for pluralism, human rights and rule of law. He urged the US government to investigate the flow of funds between militant Hindutva supremacist groups in the US and India as well as the Hindutva attempts to infiltrate the US power centers
Earlier advocacy groups such as Justice for All and ImanNet had issued action alerts providing the contact information of executives of advertisement agencies.
