Letter to the Indian diaspora

If you are, like me, someone whose family or themselves immigrated from India to the country you currently call home, I have a special ask of you. Consider the fact that either us or those before us were welcomed into countries they were not born in, despite speaking different languages, practicing different religions and having a different culture than those of the majority community. We are minorities and we are afforded equal rights to access opportunity and the right to practice our own cultures and religions.

We cannot enjoy the benefits of pluralism and secularism abroad and support taking those same rights away from minorities in India. If we believe we have the right to exist in the countries we now call home, why shouldn’t the same right exist for Indian citizens whose ancestors have lived in India for centuries?

This is why I believe that we have a responsibility to fight for secular principles in India, as those same principles make our lives possible abroad. Indian citizens in India should have the same rights in their own country that we were afforded as immigrants to other countries.