Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) introduced a resolution today to condemn human rights violations and violations of international religious freedom in India, including those targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis, and other religious and cultural minorities. The resolution calls on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act, which has been recommended by the independent, bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom for the past three years.
The introduction comes after continued violence and threats made against religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians in India. There have been numerous reports of national and state governments condoning harassment and acts of violence made against religious minorities. In 2019, the Indian Parliament enacted the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which provides a fast track to Indian citizenship only for non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan already residing in India. This will open the possibility of rendering millions of Muslims stateless or subject to indefinite detention.
“The Indian government must be held responsible for human right violations against religious and cultural minorities,” said Rep. Omar. “In recent years, the Indian government has been escalating repressive policies against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits. The United States should stand for religious freedom in India and the fair treatment of all religious minorities. It is past time for the State Department to acknowledge the reality of the situation in India and formally designate India as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act.”
The original co-sponsors of H.Res 1196 include Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA).
Background
The Republic of India had a history of standing on secular principles, aiming to provide equal protection to all religious and ethnic groups. However, in 2014 there was a major shift in policies when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected as the ruling part of India, bringing right-wing, extremist Hindu nationalism to the forefront of the country’s forefront . In conjunction with the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organization, a paramilitary group, have worked systematically to shift India from a secular country to a nation that promotes the Hindutva ideology, one which seeks the hegemony and preaches the superiority of Hindus.
Since 2014, systematic abuse, lynchings, the destruction of houses of worship and torture of India’s religious minorities, particularly its Muslims, have occurred on a daily basis with the approval and participation of the BJP and its parent organization, the RSS.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was founded in 1925 as a right-wing, paramilitary, Hindu nationalist organization dedicated to forming a purely Hindu nation. The RSS was inspired by the Nazi Party of Germany and the Fascist Party of Italy. The organization was banned three times, notably due to the fact that one of its members assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.
Genocide Watch states, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made Islamophobia central to its program for harassing India’s 204 million Muslims and depriving them of their rights as Indian citizens.” The organization sys further that India is displaying all the “signs and processes of genocide.”
CHRD Bangladesh urges the United States members of Congress to:
*Ask the BJP government to stop the targeting and ethnic cleansing of religious minorities.
*Implement programs to protect the rights of religious minorities.
*Stop penalizing the freedom of religion.
*Revoke the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which fast-tracks the citizenship of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who arrived in India before 2015. However, the CAA explicitly excludes Muslims in the same situation.
*Ensure the lifting of the blockade in Kashmir.
*Ensure that any future bilateral treaties with India and investments include specific conditions related to its adherence to the respect of human rights and the freedom of religion.
*Strongly consider wide economic sanctions against India for its dismal human rights record.
CHRD Bangladesh sincerely thanks Rep. Omar, Rep. Tlaib, Rep. McGovern and Rep. Vargas for their support for religious freedom and human rights in India.