[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 26 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E280-E281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   INDIA'S RELIGIOUS TYRANNY GOES ON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 9, 2000

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I was distressed to read an article in the 
Washington Times of February 25 datelined Calcutta reporting that the 
government of India's state of Orissa is now requiring anyone 
converting to Christianity to get a government permit. This policy has 
been met with protests in front of government offices in Calcutta, 
because it is just the latest chapter in the ongoing religious tyranny 
in India.
  As you know, thousands of Sikhs languish in Indian jails without 
charge and without trial. These Sikhs are political prisoners in ``the 
world's largest democracy.'' Many of them have been in prison illegally 
since the Indian government attacked the Sikhs' holiest shrine, the 
Golden Temple in Amritsar, in June 1984. That is coming up on 16 years 
now!
  The BJP, which runs the central government, destroyed the most 
revered mosque in India, the mosque at Ayodhya, intending to put a 
Hindu temple on the site. Hindus affiliated with the BJP's parent 
organization, the RSS, burned a Christian missionary and his two sons, 
ages 8 and 10, to death in their jeep while they slept. The mob 
surrounded the family's jeep and chanted ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a 
Hindu god. RSS-affiliated Hindu extremists have burned down Christian 
churches, schools, and prayer halls. They have murdered priests and 
raped nuns. In 1997, the police broke up a Christian religious festival 
with gunfire.
  The Indian government has sent over 700,000 troops to Kashmir and 
half a million to Punjab, Khalistan, to suppress the freedom of the 
Muslim and Sikh populations there. It has killed tens of thousands of 
Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits, and others.
  President Clinton will soon be going to India. While he is there, one 
important thing that he should do is to press the Indian government on 
the subject of human rights. If we do not support the human rights of 
all the people of South Asia, who will?
  I call on the President to raise these issues in the strongest terms. 
Also, we should cut off aid to India until it observes the basic 
standards of human rights for all and we should support freedom for the 
people of South Asia by going on record in support for self-
determination for the people of Punjab, Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, 
and the other nations of South Asia that now live under occupation.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit the Times article into the 
Record.

               [From the Washington Times, Feb. 25, 2000]

                Christians in India Protest `Bias' Order

       Calcutta--Hundreds of Christians converged on a government 
     office yesterday to protest what they said was a 
     discriminatory order by the Orissa state government on 
     religious conversions.
       The protesters said the order, which requires people who 
     are converting to Christianity to apply to a local official 
     and get police clearance, violates the Indian Constitution.
       The protesters belong to the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, or 
     United Forum of Catholics and Protestants. They delivered a 
     statement to the Orissa government through its local office 
     in Calcutta.


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