What the Indian American Muslim Council is all about, and why it has irked the Centre

Former vice-president Hamid Ansari, along with four US lawmakers, sparked controversy on 26 January as he raised concerns over the human rights situation in India. Ansari was speaking at a panel discussion organised by the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), which in the past has raised issues pertaining to the safety and security of Muslims in India. Participating in the virtual panel discussion from India, Ansari expressed his concern over the rising trend of Hindu nationalism. His allegation of “intolerance”, “insinuating otherness”, and “promoting disquiet and insecurity” on the current government were not received well. Several BJP leaders have since spoken strongly against the former vice-president. **Also read: Hamid Ansari comments on human rights irk BJP: What you need to know about controversy** The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also criticised Ansari’s comments and the Indian American Muslim Council. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said “the track record of event organisers is as well known as the biases and political interests of the participants”. Let’s take a look at the IAMC’s controversial history and its tussle with Indian law: – The Indian American Muslim Council was founded in 2002 by Sheikh Ubaid after the Godhra riots. – IAMC is headed by Rasheed Ahmed, who was executive director (2008-17) of Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) which was accused of looting public COVID funds. Meanwhile, IMANA’s Director of Operations Zahid Mahmood is an ex-PakIstan Navy official. – According to its website, the IAMC is “the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the US”. – The organisation has been outspoken about alleged crimes against minorities in India. – According to News18, the IAMC had reportedly collected funds for the cause of the Rohingya crisis and paid to lobby firm FGR for getting India blacklisted by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). – FGR head Terry Allen was a long-time associate of Nadine Maenza, USCIRF Chair. IAMC’s Sheikh Ubaid is friends with Abdul Malik Mujahid, who headed Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA): the US front for Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan. The ICNA has known links with Pak-based terror groups including LeT. – After the 26 January event, minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the organisation had links with SIMI (Students’ Islamic Movement of India) and ISI of Pakistan. “This Indo-American Muslim Council, who had a link with SIMI and ISI, who used to propagate anti-India bashing and Modi bashing, has done it again,” Naqvi said. What did Ansari and others say during the online event The former vice president said that in recent years, the country has “experienced the emergence of trends and practises that dispute the well-established principle of civic nationalism”. “…and interposes a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism. It seeks to present an electoral majority in the guise of a religious majority and monopolized political power. It wants to distinguish citizens on the basis of their faith, give vent to intolerance, insinuate otherness, and promote disquiet and insecurity,” Ansari said. He added: “Some of its recent manifestations are chilling and reflect poorly on our claim to be governed by rule of law. It’s a question that has to be answered. These trends need to be contested and contested legally and contested politically.” US senator Ed Markey, Congressmen Jim McGovern, Andy Levin and Jamie Raskin were among the speakers at the session. Markey is known for his anti-India stands in the past including opposing the India-US civil nuclear deal during the Manmohan Singh regime. The other three Congressmen also have a history of taking anti-India stands irrespective of the governments at the Centre. Levin said that the world’s largest democracy was seen backsliding as human rights are under attack. “Regrettably, today, the world’s largest democracy is seeing backsliding, human rights under attack and religious nationalism. Since 2014, India has fallen from 27 to 53 on the Democracy Index. And Freedom House has downgraded India from free to partly free,” Levin said. IAMC’s response to Naqvi’s claims – While denying all allegations made by Naqvi, the IAMC challenged the government to “furnish evidence to prove even one of these baseless and fraudulent claims”. “IAMC does not have ties to Pakistan, ISI or SIMI. IAMC has zero history of spreading communal violence in India,” it said. – It said that SIMI has been banned eight times under UAPA since 2001 and never in these years IAMC was linked to SIMI. “SIMI has been banned eight times under the Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act since 2001. Each time, the ban was adjudicated upon at a tribunal constituted under a high court judge. Not once in all these years has India’s federal government claimed at the court that IAMC is linked with SIMI,” it said in a statement. IAMC’s previous tussle with the law – In November, over 100 social media account holders including the IAMC were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly sharing fake photos and videos of a mosque burning in Tripura on social media. – According to a report by India Today, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had deemed the news of violence in Tripura as fake. The also said that there was “no report of simple or grievous injury or rape or death of any person in these incidents in Tripura as alleged in some social media posts”. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.