California-based journalist Pieter Friedrich, who started his hunger strike against Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey’s 2.5 million dollar donation to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) linked NGO Sewa international six days ago, has now filed an online petition to gather as much support as possible for the same.
The petition read, “Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who on 10 May 2021 announced a $2.5 million donation to Sewa International, must have missed journalist Neha Dixit’s viral tweet, published a week earlier, urging Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) not to support the controversial non-profit organization because “they work as the welfare wing of RSS.”
“As COVID-19 ravages India, Sewa International recently announced its plan to raise $10 million for medical equipment to support the country’s struggle against the virus. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the paramilitary which gave birth to the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party — faces scathing international criticism for his regime’s apparent indifference to and outrageous mishandling of the COVID crisis,” it further read.
The online petition #TakeItBackJack, so far has crossed more than 4,000 signatures and continues to grow rapidly.
The petition also explains a little bit of the history of RSS and its political wing Bharatiya Janata Party, which is now the ruling party in India. The petition includes information on the 2002 Gujarat massacre, Nazi influence on RSS founding fathers and the oppression of minorities, and curbing of freedom of expression in India since Narendra Modi(a long-time member of the RSS) came into power in 2014.
The hunger strike protest started after Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey announced a 2.5 million dollar donation to Sewa International, which is known to be an NGO affiliated with RSS.
“I am hunger-striking to protest Twitter’s donation to Sewa international USA because the nonprofit springs from the RSS, a fascist paramilitary with a long track record of extreme anti-minority violence,” Friedrich told siasat.com earlier.