Organisers Apologise for Bulldozer in Indian I-Day Rally in New Jersey Towns

A letter to the mayors of Edison and Woodbridge said "certain aspects" of the parade "reflected poorly" on them.

The Indian Business Association (IBA), apologised on Tuesday, 30 August, for bringing a bulldozer to an Indian Independence Day parade in two New Jersey towns, describing it as "a divisive image that did not reflect our mission."

IBA President Chandrakant Patel offered "his sincere apologies for certain aspects of our 2022 Indian Independence Day Parade that reflected poorly on our organisation and offended the Indian American minority groups, especially Muslims, from the local area, and across the state, and country."

The letter, addressed to Edison Mayor Samip Joshi (who is an Indian American himself) and Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, comes a week after a council meeting in Edison in which a group of people belonging to the Indian diaspora had gathered and defended the inclusion of the bulldozer.

Mayor Joshi had denounced the use of a bulldozer during an Indian Independence Day rally, calling it "unacceptable" and had asked for an apology from the group that had organised the parade in Edison, New Jersey.

'Will Not Allow These Symbols in the Future'

"The parade should be and has always been about a celebration of our Indian heritage and inclusion, and diversity among our many different cultures and religions," the letter added. "We hereby make the commitment that we will not allow these symbols in the future... to make sure that our parade remains the best in the State of New Jersey."

In response to the letter, Selaedin Maksut, the Executive Director of the New Jersey branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ), thanked Woodbridge Mayor McCormac "for taking our community’s concerns seriously and calling on the IBA to issue this public apology," reported the Middle East Eye.

Previously, Patel had told the Middle East Eye, "This is a prejudiced complaint. The bulldozer only represents the demolishing of illegal structures on government land (in India)."

The bulldozer has allegedly become a symbol of oppression in India, given the trend of state governments, like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, using them to demolish the homes of Muslims under the pretext of those houses being illegal.

(With inputs from Middle East Eye.)