Don’t give legitimacy to Yogi Adityanath: Diaspora groups appeal World Economic Forum

An open letter signed by different Indian diaspora groups appealed to participants of the World Economic Forum to not “give legitimacy to Yogi Adityanath in the context of his crimes against humanity”.

The letter shared by the organisations on social media says the “future leader of the BJP and expected to be Modi’s successor, Adityanath is one of the most notorious political figures in India”.

World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 will be held in Davos from 16 to 20 January.

In his first-ever trip overseas, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath will join the India delegation at the World Economic Forum in order to build ‘Brand UP’ and attract investments at the Global Investors Summit being held by his government in February 2023.

This Summit is part of a larger plan to transform UP into one trillion-dollar economy by 2027. 

“Adityanath’s first term as Chief Minister (2017-2021) saw a rise in violence, including widespread extrajudicial killings as state policy, abuses against civilians protesting against the discriminatory and Islamophobic Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, interventions of security forces for unlawful reasons and multiplication of wrongful arrests among many other crimes.

This violence mostly targeted religious minorities, Dalits, women and human rights defenders, and seem to have the sanction of Chief Minister Adityanath. (See here and here). Adityanath also holds a criminal record for inciting violence through hate speeches, including in the 2007 Gorakhpur riot case,” says the letter.

Adityanath was reelected in February 2022.

The letter urges participants to “refrain from investing in Uttar Pradesh since any kind of investment is likely to shore up Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu-supremacist regime with its inherent dangers to minorities, Dalits, women and human rights defenders. Investing in Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath will not benefit the people of UP”.