THE ISLAMIC COUNCIL OF NEW ENGLAND
Professor Reif, February 8, 2019.
President,
MIT.
Dear Professor Reif,
We write to express our deep concern that Dr. Subramanian Swamy, a brilliant Indian academician, a highly influential, albeit controversial politician and a person endowed with an unapologetic demagogic hatred toward minority communities has been honored with the opportunity of legitimizing his bigotry in India by the inclusive forum extended to him at the prestigious MIT. These are a very few of his less radical comments in Wikipedia that highlight his world view:
“For our commitment to the survival of the ancient civilization of India and the composite culture that secularists talk of, we have not only to win that coming inevitable war ( with Pakistan) but also resolve never to part with Kashmir.”
‘After the Charlottesville riots in August 2017, he posted a tweet urging Indians residing in the United States to “stand with Trump at this hour of his being hunted by cockeyed liberals & Left wing loonies on racism” and praised Trump for “having showed the hypocrites their place by telling it like it is.”
After the 2011 universally condemned Mumbai Bombings he wrote:
“Enact a national law prohibiting conversion from Hindu religion to any other religion.
Only Muslims who “acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus” be allowed to vote in India.
Propagate the development of a Hindu mindset.”
It is tragic that an intellect so blessed with knowledge should display such an abysmal disconnect with the commonality of the human spirit. We recognize that his son-in-law Professor Sanjay Sarma is an illustrious member of the MIT Faculty, and that his younger daughter Suhasini Haidar is married to a Muslim. These considerations may complicate your decision to comply with our request, but in the interest of ensuring that hatred is not given a free pass we would urge you to consider rescinding his invitation to the MIT event.
With every good wish for a successful Conference, We are yours respectfully,
Badawi Dweik PhD President
Abdul Cader Asmal MD PhD Chairman of Communications, www.islamiccouncilne.org