NEW YORK: Indian Muslim organizations and other faith communities have called on organizers of the Indian Independence Day parade in New York on Sunday to remove a float bearing the statue of the Ram Mandir, saying it is seen as a symbol that glorifies the destruction of mosques and violence against Muslims in the South Asian country.

The float depicts the controversial Ram Mandir, inaugurated in Ayodhya earlier this year and said to be the birthplace of the Hindu god. But its location has long been hotly contested between Hindus and Muslims, and in the early 1990s the Babri Mosque that stood there was razed to the ground by a Hindu fundamentalist mob.

The destruction of the mosque was followed by nationwide riots in which around 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. In 2019, India’s Supreme Court handed the country over to Hindus.

For their part, the parade organizers rejected calls to remove the float, saying it was a celebration to mark the inauguration of a sacred landmark that is of great importance to hundreds of millions of Hindus.

Several US-based organizations have written a letter to New York Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul calling the float anti-Islamic and claiming it glorifies the destruction of the mosque.

The groups that signed the letter included the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Hindus for Human Rights.

Other groups that signed the letter included: the Federation of Indian American Churches of North America (FIACONA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the New York State Council of Churches, Genocide Watch, Center for Pluralism, India’s Civil Watch International, the American Muslim Institution and the Association of Indian Muslims in America.

“The presence of this float represents the desire of these groups to merge Hindu nationalist ideology with Indian identity…,” the letter said.

“We urge you to take immediate and decisive action to prevent the inclusion of a polarizing and divisive float in this parade.”

Mohammed Jawad, president of the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), said: “(The Mandir) is widely understood as a monument to Hindu supremacist ideology, underscoring Modi’s goal of creating a Hindu ethnostate and reviving the Indian right’s goal of taking over and destroying mosques across the country.”

Jawad added: “It is an anti-Islamic symbol and those who celebrated the inauguration of the Ram Temple are very aware of that… we cannot allow this to pass in a city like New York, where diversity is a cause for celebration and communities of all backgrounds coexist.”

“There is no place for hate,” Mayor Adams said at a press conference earlier this week. “If there is a float or a person in the parade that promotes hate, that should not be the case.”

Mayor Adams’ office later told the Associated Press that freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the city from denying a permit or requiring the message of a float or parade to be changed simply because it does not match the content.

Human rights experts say that under the rule of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has seen an increase in attacks on Muslims and other minorities in recent years, including violence and discrimination.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Day Parade Committee announced that the event will be held in New York City on August 25.