New Delhi
2 February 2006
While the UPA Government gets ready to roll out the red carpet for
United States President George W Bush, a "Coalition of the Willing" comprising civil
society organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, writers and activists
want "Bush [to] go back."
Similar protests have been planned by the Left parties, which are supporting the UPA
Government from outside, and by anti-imperialist forces extending from Cuba to the
neighbouring Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. Certain UPA allies have also extended moral
support to the anti-Bush campaign.
"We will follow him wherever he goes," says Mr SQR Ilyas, executive member of
Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and convenor of "Bush Go Back" campaign committee. The JeI and
allied organisations are making elaborate plans to show black flags to the US President
in Delhi and in the state capitals.
Incidentally, anti-Bush campaigns are also being held in the United States with protests
planned for February 4 in Washington DC and elsewhere. The US President's January 31
State of the Union address was similarly greeted by demonstrations in several cities
across America.
According to media reports, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested while trying to
attend the State of the Union address wearing a T-shirt that read "2245 Dead. How many
more?". Ms Sheehan, the mother of slain US solder Casey Sheehan, has also kept vigil
outside President Bush's Texas ranch last year.
The activists carrying on the campaign in the US have criticised the Bush Administration
for its wars of aggression, torture and indefinite detention, destruction of the global
environment, attacks on global public health and "knowing failure to protect life during
Hurricane Katrina."
In India, Maulana Mahmood Madani A Madani, general secretary of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind,
says the "Bush Go Back" campaign will draw on Mahatma Gandhi's Ahimsa to launch a
signature campaign and flood the US Embassy in India and Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh's office with emails.
The activists including writer Amresh Mishra observe that the focus of the campaign will
be the Bush Administration, not America or Americans. "This is also not about Muslims,"
they clarify, and suggest that the campaign will be about human issues and individuals
from all walks of life will join.
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