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DC event highlights threats to free speech in India, US
The program opened with a conversation titled “Free Speech Under Siege: Lessons from India and America.”
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Staff Reporter - Thu, 19, Jun 2025
- 16:41 EDT
- 17
The event's poster / Instagram / @iamsonnysingh
A group of artists, activists, and civil society leaders gathered in Washington, DC, on June 19 for an event featuring discussions and performances centered on themes of free speech, dissent, and civic participation in India and the United States.
Organized by the India House Foundation and partners, the program—titled “SANGAT: A Musical Gathering of Spirit, Unity, and Resistance”—was held at the Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital. It combined live musical performance with a public dialogue on censorship, surveillance, and political polarization.
Also Read: California musical brings Indian Americans together for unity
The program opened with a conversation titled “Free Speech Under Siege: Lessons from India and America,” featuring Nida Hasan, executive director of the India House Foundation, and Arjun Sethi, a human rights lawyer and academic. The discussion examined threats to free expression, surveillance of dissenters, and the legal and social barriers faced by marginalized communities.
Sethi pointed to patterns of suppression across both countries, including the targeting of advocacy related to immigration, climate, and Palestine.“The U.S. government is punishing and seeking to criminalize free speech in support of immigration rights, climate justice, and Palestine,” he said.
“Non-U.S. citizens who speak out on these issues are particularly at risk. It is critical that our universities, institutions, and courts safeguard speech for all,”he added, “The very first Amendment to the Bill of Rights protects free speech. That's by design. The right to speak freely is a bedrock civil and human right and a prerequisite to a healthy democracy.”
Sethi also warned of the growing use of political polarization as a tool to stifle opposition and narrow civic participation. “Polarization is rising in both India and the U.S., and leaders and authoritarian forces in both countries are weaponizing it to target dissent. Free speech and association change minds and reduce polarization, which is exactly what authoritarians wish to prevent.”
The discussion was followed by a performance from Afghan American rabab maestro Qais Essar and Sikh American musician Sonny Singh, accompanied by cellist Roziht Eve and tabla player Jujhar Singh. Their collaborative project, Sangat, draws on centuries-old Sikh, Sufi, and Bhakti traditions—using music and poetry to promote cross-cultural unity and resistance.
“A country cannot in good faith call itself a democracy without having communities from diverse backgrounds and identities participating in equitable ways in civic life,” said Singh during the event. “Authoritarians and supremacists rely on those at the margins—be it religious minorities, caste-oppressed people, or queer and transgender people—to disengage from civic participation. So it’s our responsibility to organize our communities and make sure we stay engaged and build power for real democracy.”
Singh also spoke about the challenges facing India’s pluralistic fabric. “The idea of a multicultural, secular India is most definitely under threat right now. Those in power have a vision of India as a Hindu country which excludes and marginalizes religious communities like Muslims, Sikhs, Christians as well as Dalits, Bahujans, and Adivasis,” he said.
The DC program follows a similar gathering hosted on June 7 in California by the India House Foundation and the India Community Center, which drew over 200 attendees. Both events center around the role of multiculturalism and cultural preservation in strengthening democratic institutions in times of deepening polarization.
Organizers say the Sangat series will continue in other U.S. cities in the coming months, aiming to build alliances across diaspora communities and civil society groups confronting parallel threats to speech and pluralism.
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