Whitewashing India's Religious Freedom

 Whitewashing India's Religious Freedom

India has an impeccable history of welcoming the stranger and giving refuge to the oppressed, rejected and the evicted. She has welcomed Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and the Baha’is. Indeed the very first mosque built outside of Arabia was in India by a Hindu King in the state of Malabar. The Tibetan Buddhist refugees found a home in India; the Ahmadiyya Muslims felt secure, so were the displaced Bangladeshi and Afghan refugees.

This beautiful pluralistic 5000-year-old tradition of India is in peril now. BJP and its affiliates (The Sangh Parivar) that govern India "currently" are hell-bent on destroying that heritage. They want to force non-Hindus into obedience and tell them what they can eat or believe, and whom they can marry or live as 2nd class citizens. They want to free India from Christians and Muslims, and plan to convert them by 2025 to Hinduism.  Indeed, the ISIS had given similar options to the Christians and Yazidis. 

Make no mistake about it; Hinduism is a religion of peace like all other religions. The problem is not between people of faith, but the radicals.

A few Indian American organizations linked to the Sangh Parivar want to whitewash the situation. They want to portray that everything is hunky dory in India.  

Hunky dory it is not, the  Congressmen and Senators are fully conversant of the harassment, lynching, raping and killing of Christians, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Atheists and others in India. 

It is time for the Indian Americans to save the honor of India and restore her pluralistic heritage that got derailed in the last four years. 

The prosperity of a nation stands on her two firm legs; economic growth and social cohesion, one will not sustain without the other.   

 If the minorities continue to live in apprehension and fear, the whole nation gets engaged in useless battles and the prosperity will come to a grinding halt, and the country will limp until it reaches a new life or loses all that was achieved.  

The confidence of foreign investments in a nation spurs the growth, India’s IT industry,  call centers, and businesses have raised the standard of living for many. As long as the investors feel secure about their investments they will pump in more funds. However, when they see chaos emerging with the nations discriminative practices, harassment, lynching, rapes and killing of the minorities, they will pull out and everyone stands to lose.

It was embarrassing to note the missing presence of India at the religious freedom conference held by the Department of State in July 2018. If the violations continue, India may get stamped as a "Country of Particular Concern” for violations of religious freedom. It will hurt India, particularly the business community and the information technology sector. 

The whitewash report produced by the Hindu America Foundation is understandable. No Indian wants India to lose, but neither should we compromise on the truth to look good. We hope to produce an accurate state of the union; after all, India's emblem includes the phrase, Satyameva Jayate - Truth triumphs.

The majority of Indians of all faiths believe in Pluralism, i.e., respecting the otherness of other.  It is not Hindus either,  but the radicals among Hindus that are causing the problems with the subtle encouragement from the BJP government.

Quotes from the HAF, reported by Jha;

"The Indian government provides "unprecedented" religious accommodations to its religious minority population, says a report by a US-based Hindu advocacy group." 

The truth is far from it. It sounds like the majority is doing a favor to the minorities in 'accommodating' them.  It is like saying "we give equal rights to women" who the hell are we to give them their rights, to begin with, the rights were theirs.  Indeed, every Indian is guaranteed those rights; we are all equal citizens. No one has more privileges than the other. 

"To bring greater stability to the region and prevent the growth of radical Islamist and Communist/Maoist terrorism." This statement is too hypocritical and divisive to exclude radical Hindutva terrorism from the list.  The issue is not with Hindus or Muslims; it is with radicals among them. 

"Overall, it seeks to show the broader story of religious freedom and pluralism in India, which is often not, reflected in the media or US policy circles." Indeed, India was a pluralist nation until the Hindutva brigade took over the country four years ago.  

We need to come together and appeal to the Government of India, to issue visas to the commissioners of the USCIRF to investigate the Sikh Genocide, Massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, killing of Christians, Rapes, and lynching of Dalits, and harassment of Sikhs. If the commission gives a clean certificate, it will help boost the investor confidence in India; on the other hand, if India's record is of particular concern, then it is time to fix it than pretending to be holier than thou.  

I would appeal to the Hindu America Foundation to issue press releases condemning the lynching of Muslims, killing of Christians, harassment of Dalits, and Atheists, by condemning each event, it will give them the credibility to be a legitimate pluralist organization for Human rights. 

We will also write a letter urging Prime Minister Modi to speak out forcefully against harassment of any Indian and pledge that no Indian has more privileges than the other. Ambassador Sam Brownback says, if evil acts get condemned as they occur, they will be choked and will not see the light of the day. 

Finding solutions video in Hindi-Urdu Language
https://www.facebook.com/100001262335435/posts/1998170193568372/

Mike Ghouse, is president of the Center for Pluralism and is committed to fostering cohesive societies where no human has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. His India Blog is http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com 

Published in the following News agencies:

https://www.theindianpanorama.news/featured/whitewashing-indias-religious-freedom/


https://www.4conservative.com/countercurrents.org/whitewashing-indias-religious-freedom/

http://muslimmirror.com/eng/whitewashing-indias-religious-freedom/

https://countercurrents.org/2018/08/10/whitewashing-indias-religious-freedom/

https://www.thekashmirmonitor.net/whitewashing-religious-freedom/


Whitewash pieces

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-provides-unprecedented-accommodation-to-its-religious-minority-population-report/articleshow/65182770.cms

https://www.lalitkjha.com/apex/f?p=24257:170:::NO:170:P170_ARTICLE_NUM:30416

http://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/hindu-american-foundation-holds-briefing-highlighting-india-s-democracy-in/article_d15dfba6-9a8b-11e8-9a64-93691e1ac7da.html

India's religious freedom

Washington, D.C., February 13, 2018 – Today we met at room 1540 at Longworth House Office building to discuss the religious freedom in India.  The program was sponsored by the International Religious Freedom Caucus, co-chaired by Congressmen Gus Bilirakis and Thomas Garrett. The meeting was run by Miranda, Maya, and Tripp representing different Congressmen.

Ajaya Kumar Singh, a Dalit leader himself,  gave a presentation of what is going on in India with Dalits, Christians, and Muslims.

When my turn came, I asked Jay Kansara, representative of HAF, the Hindu America Foundation to take the initiative and make statements against the lynching of Muslims, persecution of Christians and harassment of Dalits?   I also urged HAF to write to the Government of India urging them to grant a visa to the USCRIF Commissioners to do their findings of religious freedom in India.  

I hope to see HAF come out clean and looked up to as a just American organization. I asked him to issue a press release to say that every Indian has a right to breathe, eat, drink, wear and believe whatever he or she desires, and no Indian has a right to forcibly impose his ideas on others. The Government of India will listen more to HAF than anyone else, as they all have similar affiliations.  Some of the other things I have said are expressed in the letter below.

Ultimately, we all have to come out clean and wash our inconsistencies and operate beyond reproach. If we don't stand up for the rights of others, then who will?  It is not about Hinduism or Hindus, it is about the radicals among Hindus we need to work with.

I made an assertion that if an American Hindu is attacked; Indian Muslims will stand up for them.  We have a stellar record of that.

John Prabhudas also encouraged Jay to take the responsibility, and he did a great job in explaining how it matters to us in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Sana, spoke exceptionally well, she gives me hope that our next generation has an interest in the well being of India.  She was articulate and spoke American (meaning precise information to the point without digressions).

The IAMC provided the lunch, good homemade Biryani, and fruit tray.  I believe it was prepared by Zubair’s family.

My apologies for not remembering the names, as I had to dash out because of the car parking was 20 minutes walk and the time we had was just 20 minutes left on parking.

I hope someone will write the notes of the meeting. I know the staff of the congressmen took extensive notes. If they send me, I will share with those who want to see, let me know if you do. I have submitted the following recommendations to them.

If the Dalits and others are treated like what India’s constitution calls for; that is Dalit women are not the object of sex for the upper caste Hindu men; and they are not entitled to the Dalit women and they are not raped and hung on trees, and if a Dalit groom rides a horse and the upper caste accepts it instead of beating the groom up; if a Muslim is not lynched for eating meat (suspecting it beef) and if Christian nuns are not raped and harassed. If HAF and HEF can focus on correcting this in India, then the California textbooks should be corrected. 

We cannot dupe our children, teach them one thing but when they visit India, they see it differently. The Indians parents look stupid to the American Indian Children. Over the years, I have asked some of my extremist fellow Indians to show their comments to their children and ask them honestly to grade them on the scale of the stupidity of their statements.

Mike Ghouse
# # #

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

International Religious Freedom Caucus.
US Congress.
Washington, DC

Recommendations to the International Religious Freedom Caucus 

As an American of Indian origin, I am concerned about the future of Democracy in India, and how it affects us, the Americans. I am pleased to submit the following with concrete solutions.

Governor Sam Brownback, our new Ambassador for religious freedom said it well at the reception held in his honor last week at the US Institute of Peace. If religious freedom is denied to a people, they will bear it to a point, when they have no way out,  they would become resentful and revengeful resulting in unmanageable civil strife. As Martin Luther King said, injustice to one is injustice to all. 

India proved to the world that she can manage freedom and certainly established a pluralistic democracy based on humanistic values, patterned after the US constitution by Dr. Ambedkar.  That stability and rule of law attracted investments that benefited Indians as well as the investors from across the world including the United States. India’s GDP and per capita income rose continually.

The success of a nation rests on its two solid feet – the economy and a cohesive society, an imbalance in one would mess up both in the long haul and the entire nation would reel in the downward spiral.  At the end, not only Indians but the investors will also lose out.  Who would want to invest in a country that practices discrimination, harassment, and lynching against its minorities? Who wants to risk operating in such a chaotic environment? Rule of Law and stable societies are the attractants for investors, both are in peril in India at this time.

The Government of India is not doing it, but their silence is contributing towards the chaos. First, the British kept their control by pitting one Indian against the other, and now the current leadership is repeating that formula.   I hope it does not come to the point where we the American have another Afghanistan on your hands, this time it would be Hindu Talibans.

Solutions:

1.    We urge the US Congress to use its leverage with the Government of India to issue visas to the commissioners of USCRIF – to investigate and report the issues and solutions.

2.    We urge the Hindu organizations in America to step up and use their influence with the current Indian Government to issue statements like;

a.    It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that freedom of Individuals is protected under the constitution and those who harass fellow Indians will be punished.

b.    We declare that every Indian is free to breathe, eat, drink, wear and believe whatever he or she is comfortable with.  We will not tolerate anyone to violate these rights of the individuals.

c.    That we the people of all faiths from Atheist to Zoroastrians will stand solidly with the people of India and expect everyone is treated with dignity.

We will urge the moderate Hindus to take back their faith of 5000 years with deep roots in pluralism.  We have also asked and continue to ask the Hindu organizations to issue a statement, and hope they would., and after I hear from the Congressman, I will enlist support from other Hindu Organizations.  A positive message to India would help build positive energy. 

Together we have to protect democracies around the world. America is a shining example to the world that Democracy works, it brings stability and prosperity whereas fascism destroys everyone in the process.

The Center for Pluralism is committed to building cohesive societies where individuals can live out their lives in the pursuit of their happiness and without apprehension or fear of the fellow humans.


Thank you

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Mike Ghouse, President
Center for Pluralism
Washington, DC
(214) 325-1916
Mike@CenterforPluralism.com
www.CenterforPluralism.com