While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing the United Nations General Assembly calling for sustainable development and talking about the "personal sector" in India, hundreds of people were standing right outside the building to demonstrate against him.

On Friday, some members of Indian community in the US gathered to protest against human rights violations in India in seemed like a rerun of similar protests that took place last time Modi visited the United States.

Aligned under the banner of Sikhs for Justice, the protesters asked the world community to take note of the human rights violations in Punjab and raised anti-India and anti-Modi slogans. Among their key demands was a referendum in the state by 2020 for the creation of a separate state of Khalistan.

"There is massive violations against minorities, in particular against Christians, Sikhs and Muslims," SFJ leader Bakhshish Singh Sandhu told PTI.

Another group of Sikhs protested around noon outside the UNGA against the anti-Sikh carnage of 1984, demanding justice from the international body.



Senior Advocate HS Phoolka, who recently resigned from Aam Aadmi Party, even appealed to people to turn up in large numbers for the protests and shared the following pictures of the preparation and the demonstration on his Facebook page.






At the same time, there were members of Patel community who were protesting alongside the Sikhs in a separate enclosure, demanding an end to police action against the members of the community who are demonstrating in Gujarat to demand reservations.






"We want justice from police brutalities. As many as 4,000 youths are still in police custody,” one Anil Patel was quoted as saying by PTI. “There has been police brutality against innocent people. So far no action has been taken against the police officials responsible for this.” On Saturday, as the PM heads to San Jose, California, to address a huge gathering at Silicon Valley, an alliance of activists has planned protests to greet him and hold him accountable for the “gross human rights violations”. Warm welcome However, not everyone was protesting against Modi during his visit. The Indian Prime Minister was greeted by enthusiastic members of the Indian community on landing at the airport and welcome rallies followed him to the UN too.



 



A group of Patels under the banner of Indian Diamond and Gemstone Industry of New York were seen raising welcome slogans for the prime minister. Earlier, Indians were spotted with posters proclaiming “America Welcomes Modi” on the streets of New York.

 

Not just this, some supporters seemed to have even splashed his face on everything from banners to boxes of sweets.