It may have been her first visit to the United States, but it did not make the diminutive disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and peace activist Nirmala Deshpande pull her punches. Deshpande, 74, pointed to the lack of strong reaction from the U.S. government to the sectarian carnage in Gujarat last year, which she argued was state-sponsored.
She lamented the victims had not seen justice done either through the police or judicial systems.
Deshpande, known for her campaigns covering thousands of miles with the freedom fighter Vinobha Bhave, met with Diana Barnes, Foreign Affairs Officer, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Office of International Religious Freedom at the State Department.
At the U.S. Commission on International Religion Freedom, she met with Patricia Carley, a senior policy analyst.
She met with staffers of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, addressed a community meeting at the University of Maryland and met with the media.
The tour takes her to Detroit, Michigan, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Illinois as well as Toronto, Canada.
Deshpande held a two-hour meeting with Ambassador Lalit Masingh at his office and with John Ackerly, president and senior member of the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.
While expressing optimism that what happened in Gujarat would not be allowed to recur in other states, Deshpande alleged that the Gujurat government, far from improving the lot of victims of the carnage last year, sabotaged rehabilitation efforts. "Even today, the government is not helping the victims and not allowing others to help them. Forget rehabilitation, they are not even giving justice."
"The state government is trying to see nothing happens, and there be no justice for the victims. The police refused to register first information reports in 90 percent of the cases. So, there is no evidence of violence because the Gujarat government destroyed it," Deshpande charged. "The Gujarat government is still on that route. A lot needs to be done to set things right."
Deshpande said that the BJP [Hindu nationalist] government retained power because "the secular movement is divided. We are in the field working with people and the people are slowing realizing something is wrong." She said part of her trip would be to convince nonresident Indians and the Indian-American community not to contribute to extremist groups.
"We would like to make our friends aware of the reality and also those who subscribe to these views that if you really love India you should not do anything that would harm India. What these people are doing in Gujarat and trying to do in other states will harm India in a very big way."
The Gandhian also spoke of the peace efforts in Jammu and Kashmir and said, “I have been heartened by the response I got from the people of Kashmir, particularly the youth."
"Whenever I meet friends from this country," Deshpande said, "I feel inspired because of their commitment to the Gandhian philosophy. Sometimes one wonders whether Gandhi is remembered more outside India than in India."
At her meeting with Mansingh, she faulted him for having a stereotyped image of Pakistan as a fire-breathing fundamentalist jihadi society. She spoke of her visits and pointed out that 24 percent of Pakistan's parliament were women, compared to India's 8 percent.
She told him that among Pakistanis and even several parliamentarians, there was "so much good feeling for India." She said she could not understand why New Delhi was not responding and engaging in a dialogue with Islamabad.
Her trip is being sponsored by NRIs for a Secular and Harmonious India. In Washington, she was accompanied to the meeting by John Prabhudoss, Executive Director Policy Institute for Religion and State, who is also Chairman, Government Affairs Committee of the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations, and Kaleem Kawaja, Coordinator NRIs for a Secular and Harmonious India and founding member, Association of Indian American Muslims.
