Organizers apologize over bulldozer at I-Day parade
THE Indian Business Association (IBA) has issued an apology for bringing a bulldozer at an India Day Parade in New Jersey.
The IBA, which says in its Facebook page that it serves the Indo-American community in New Jersey, came under massive criticism over the act and said in its apology that the sight of the bulldozer was a 'divisive image' which 'did not reflect' its mission.
The body wrote the apology addressed to the mayors of the two neighbouring towns in which the parade took place on August 14, the eve of the 75th anniversary of India's Independence. Chandrakant Patel, chair of the IBA, said that he was writing to 'offer his sincere apologies for certain aspects of our 2022 Indian Independence Day Parade that reflected poorly on our organisation and offended the Indian American minority groups, especially Muslims, from the local area, and across the state and country'.
To make matters worse, the bulldozer was decorated with posters of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and the chief minister of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, whose administration has made the use of bulldozers for political goals a much-discussed topic in India. It has been alleged that India in the times of Modi and Adityanath is using bulldozer power to demolish homes of the minority Muslims and intimidate them.
The practice has been widely criticised at various international platforms, including the United Nations.
'Unfortunately, there was a bulldozer among the floats in the parade which is a divisive image that did not reflect our mission,' the letter addressed to Edison mayor Samip Joshi and Woodbridge mayor John McCormac, said.
'The parade should be and has always been about a celebration of our Indian heritage and inclusion and diversity among our many different cultures and religions,' the letter read.
'Our parade should never be about politics and should never include these blatant divisive symbols.'