Indian Americans condemn display of Bajrang Dal flags at New Jersey India Day Parade

New Jersey (August 14, 2023) — Indian Americans strongly condemned the hateful display of flags associated with the Hindu militant group Bajrang Dal at an August 13 Indian Independence Day parade in Edison, New Jersey, according to a press release issued by the Indian American Muslim Council.

After those waving the flags intimidated Muslim attendees, police asked them to leave the parade. Indian American Muslim Council members notified local authorities of the incident and provided video documentation of the men displaying Bajrang Dal flags. IAMC commends local law enforcement for taking swift action to address the hateful display.

‘Waving a Bajrang Dal flag at an Indian Independence Day Parade is absolutely unacceptable,’ said IAMC New Jersey Vice President Niyaz Khan. ‘Such actions not only tarnish the significance of the parade but also promote divisiveness and intolerance within the community and celebrate a group involved in numerous acts of brutal violence against India’s minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians.’

‘We thank the local law enforcement officials and the county prosecutor's office for taking swift action against these fringe groups that attended the parade to spread their hateful rhetoric and divisive ideology in the communities here. The matter is currently under review by the Middlesex county prosecutor's office,’ said IAMC President Mohammad Jawad.

Following the inclusion of a vicious anti-Muslim hate symbol at last year’s parade — a bulldozer with pictures of Hindu supremacist leaders, the IAMC had already called on the parade’s organizers, the Indian Business Association (IBA) to exclude and remove all displays of Hindu supremacist groups from the procession. This year’s parade rules explicitly prohibited the display of anything other than Indian and American flags, and any hateful or offensive material from processions.

‘When people wave Bajrang Dal flags, these constitute explicit threats to Muslim Americans. We must learn from last year’s hate incident and this years in order to assure this never happens again,’ said Minhaj Khan, an Indian American community leader who was part of the parade.