---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sukla Sen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://stopfundinghate.org/resources/Saff$/Jan-Feb2005.htm 3) Indicorps and its Sangh affiliations The South Asian Conference Council (SACC) at Yale University organized a conference on solidarity in the South Asian community. The objective was to increase social activism in the South Asian student community. The conference included panels on youth activism and workers rights and brought together some very progressive activists in the community (such as Nahar Alam from Andolan, Saru Jayaraman from Restaurant opportunities Center of New York, Chandra Bhatnagar from the ACLU to mention a few). In conflict with this progressive list of speakers, the organizers also invited Sonal Shah, vice president of Goldman Sachs and co-founder of Indicorps. According to their website, "Indicorps is a non-partisan, non-religious, non- profit organization that encourages Indians around! the world to actively participate in India's progress." While some of the organizations that Indicorps works with are indeed secular and progressive, at issue was their affiliation with organizations of the Sangh parivar. These connections range from personal affiliation of Sonal Shah with the VHP-A (see http://www.vhp-america.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13), institutional affiliation of Indicorps with IDRF (IDRF is one of Indicorps´ supporters; see http://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=supporters&level=1), Indicorps´ involvement with Sangh parivar projects such as Ekal Vidyalaya (see http://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=partners&level=1). Perhaps most questionable was Indicorps´ decision to accept an award from the "butcher of Gujarat" Narendra Modi in November 2004, at a time when numerous human rights activists have been threatened from continuing their work (http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/india/gujarat/). The conference organizers allowed a couple of progressive youth collectives (Organizing Youth! and Youth Solidarity Summer) to read a statement and ask Indicorps to explain their association with the Sangh Parivar. Far from explaining, Sonal Shah admitted her affiliation to the VHP-A, claimed that she would take money from anyone (including the KKK!), and used a young Muslim volunteer to claim that Indicorps was in fact secular. Such is not the kind of solidarity that one expects from a non-partisan, non-religious organization. In fact, based on the evidence and Sonal Shah´s admission, Indicorps can be listed as one of many front organizations of the Sangh parivar in the US. Soon after this public discussion, the Patriotic Sons of Mother India (a virulent Sangh outfit) posted a defence of Indicorps by attempting to defame Youth Solidarity Summer as anti-India and anti-Hindu- typical reaction from the Sangh for one of their own! CAMPAIGN TO STOP FUNDING HATE Peace Is Doable --- On *Sat, 8/11/08, Rights Support Centre <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * wrote: ** * http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=c92bdef7-a366-47df-bf51-daae396caeec&MatchID1=4816&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=1&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1212&PrimaryID=4816&Headline=Obama+team+member%2c+Sonal%2c+has+VHP+links * *Obama team member has Sangh links* US President-elect Barack Obama may have cultivated a left-of-center image for himself, but Sonal Shah, the Indian-American advisor in his transition team, has well established rightwing leanings. The 40-year-old economist has been associated with the overseas activities of the Sangh Parivar. She was a national coordinator of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America campaign to raise funds for Gujarat earthquake victims in 2001. Her father Ramesh Shah, a vice-president of the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP), had campaigned for LK Advani in Gandhinagar during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. He had also briefly traveled with Advani during his Bharat Udaya Yatra, countrywide election tour. Sonal's brother Amit and sister Rupal are now based in Ahmedabad, running a voluntary organisation, indicorps. Its website says its aim is to "engage the most talented young Indians from around the world on the frontlines of India's most pressing challenges". <http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_messenger_6/*http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
