“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”

Martin Luther King Jr.

We stand in solidarity with the Farmers’ Protest in India. Since September 2020, millions of farmers across India began to protest against three agricultural acts passed by India's Parliament. With over 250 million protestors nationwide, the Farmers’ Protest represents the largest labor movement and largest protest in human history. Unfortunately, peaceful protests have been met with excessive use of force against civilians, suppression of free speech, and the abduction of journalists directed by the Indian government.

The right to protest peacefully is a pillar of every democracy. On January 26th, 2021, the tension between protestors and the Indian government escalated. In response, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shut down the internet in Delhi, affecting over 50 million phones. Besides obvious safety concerns with this response, internet crackdowns have been a historical way to quell protest movements by tyrannical governments worldwide and is a premonitory sign for the future of India, the world's largest democracy.

As a community, we cannot, in good consciousness, justify the promotion of democratic values worldwide without speaking out against clear attacks on those same values. As a country, being an ally does not mean turning a blind eye to their injustices but rather means having the courage to hold up a mirror for our ally and help them see right from wrong.

This summer, our country went through great difficulty to rightfully protest against police brutality. We must stay true to those same values and stand up against the egregious police brutality cases evident in the Farmers’ Protest of India. Besides the now normalized government-sanctioned violence against protestors, there have been rising cases of sexual assault against female activists, such as Nodeep Kaur, while in police custody on false charges. Freelance journalists such as Mandeep Punia have also been jailed on false charges without any defense council. We simply cannot stand by silently, and our elected officials most certainly cannot.

To our Congressman Don Beyer and other elected officials, we urge you to stand in solidarity with the farmers protesting in India. To Senator Warner as co-chair and Senator Kaine as members of the Senate India Caucus, we need you to lead the effort to condemn the Indian government's undemocratic actions because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

To the Arlington and greater Virginia community, we urge you to stay educated on the issue and spread awareness. We also ask that you please call and write to your elected officials and urge them to take a stance on this pressing issue.

In solidarity,
Arlington Young Democrats