[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1750-E1751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FORMER INDIAN PRIME MINISTER INDICTED FOR CORRUPTION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 26, 1996

  Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, former Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha 
Rao resigned as head of the Congress Party after he was indicted for 
defrauding an Indian businessman. The Congress Party is providing tacit 
support to the current government headed by H.D. Deve Gowda.
  According to the Washington Post, Mr. Rao has been ordered to face 
criminal charges because an Indian expatriate businessman named 
Lakhubhai Pathak alleges that Mr. Rao conspired with a Hindu guru to 
cheat him out of $100,000. He will be formally indicted on September 
30. This took place in 1983, and Mr. Rao is just now facing charges for 
it. It has also been reported that he received $3.5 million from the 
Jain brothers, who have been charged with bribing a wide range of 
Indian politicians from all parties. He has apparently received large 
sums of money from other influence-seekers as well. It looks like Mr. 
Rao dipped into the well of corruption too many times.
  Mr. Rao's resignation proves that journalist Rajinder Puri of the 
Times of India was right when he wrote that India is ``a rotten, 
corrupt, repressive, and anti-people system.'' It is that

[[Page E1751]]

system which the Sikhs of Khalistan, the Muslims of Kashmir, the 
Christians of Nagaland, and so many others are trying to escape. The 
corruption and the repression are tied together. The State Department 
reported that between 1991 and 1993, the regime paid over 41,000 cash 
bounties to police officers for killing Sikhs. Justice Ajit Singh Bains 
reports that more than 50,000 Sikhs disappeared or were murdered from 
1992 through 1995. These events occurred on Mr. Rao's watch.
  I am pleased that P.V. Narasimha Rao is finally facing the 
consequences of his corruption, but it is time that he also faced the 
consequences of his brutal terror campaign against the Sikh nation. As 
Home Minister in 1984, Mr. Rao was the person who organized the Delhi 
massacres that killed 20,000 Sikhs. When will he be indicted for these 
crimes?
  In addition to its repression and corruption, India is a country that 
never misses an opportunity to take a swipe at the United States. 
Although it is one of the largest recipients of United States aid, 
India has a virulently anti-American voting record at the United 
Nations, and it is the country that single-handedly blocked the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [CTBT]. It is in America's interest to 
support the freedom movements in the subcontinent.
  Unfortunately, the Sikhs and others continue to live under the brutal 
rule of a tyrannical regime. Recent events like the detention of 
American citizen Balbir Singh Dhillon and the savage beating of London-
based Khalistani leader Jagjit Singh Chohan show that nothing has 
changed from Mr. Rao's brutal and corrupt rule. It is time for the 
United States to take a firm stand against these atrocities. We must 
institute an embargo against Indian companies and products. We must end 
United States aid to India. Finally, we must speak out for the freedom 
of Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and all the others seeking their 
freedom from India. Tyrants must know that America is on the side of 
freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, I insert into the Record the September 22, 1996, 
Washington Post account of the Rao resignation.

                 Indian Ex-Premier Quits Congress Party

       New Delhi--Former Indian prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao 
     quit yesterday as head of the Congress party after a court 
     upheld a summons ordering him to appear in a criminal case.
       Although his party suffered a defeat in general elections 
     earlier this year, Rao has retained a say in the nation's 
     politics by offering his party's crucial support to the 
     center-left United Front coalition government.
       Rao, 75, said in a statement read at a news conference here 
     by Congress general secretary Devendra Dwivedi that he was 
     not guilty.
       Earlier yesterday, a Delhi judge upheld the summons 
     ordering Rao to appear in court September 30. Formal charges 
     would be framed on the same day.
       An Indian expatriate businessman, Lakhubhai Pathak, alleges 
     Rao and a Hindu guru conspired conspired to cheat him of 
     $100,000 in 1983.

                          ____________________