[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 7 (Tuesday, February 5, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E85]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       MORE INDIAN REPRESSION OF TRIBAL AND CHRISTIAN MINORITIES

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 5, 2002

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I was disturbed to learn of more Indian 
repression of its tribal Christian minorities. According to a statement 
issued by the All India Christian Council, the Sangh Parivari, a wing 
of the pro-Fascist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the parent 
organization of the ruling BJP, has been distributing weapons to Hindu 
militants in the tribal areas of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and 
Rajasthan.
  In recent months, according to the statement, it has distributed 
350,000 trishuls to be used as weapons. It has set up new temples in 
Madhya Pradesh. In the Hindu schools, the curriculum already rewrites 
history. The All India Christian Council calls the curriculum ``outside 
the pale of any academic and public scrutiny'' and says it ``poisons 
young minds.''
  The statement calls this RSS plan ``an effort to polarize and 
communalize the tribal society'' in these and several other states. 
This is a well-established part of India's ongoing campaign to 
establish itself as the hegemonic power in South Asia.
  Given these activities, it is time to strike a blow for freedom by 
suspending all American aid to India until it respects all human rights 
for all people and by supporting an internationally-monitored vote on 
independence for Christian Nagaland, for Punjab, Khalistan, for Kashmir 
(which it promised in 1948), and for all the other nations seeking 
their freedom. These are very moderate measures, Mr. Speaker, but they 
are measures that can go a long way to help promote real freedom and 
democracy in South Asia.
  I would like to place the recent statement from the All India 
Christian Council into the Record for the information of my colleagues.

         [From the All India Christian Council, Jan. 17, 2002]

            Sangh Parivar Actions Communalising Adivasi Area

       (The following is the text of the statement issued by Dr. 
     Joseph D. Souza, President, and Dr. John Dayal, Secretary 
     General, of the All India Christian Council on recent moves 
     by the Sangh Parivar to aggravate the communal situation in 
     the Adivasi tribal belt of North India.)
       The All India Christian Council thanks Madhya Pradesh Chief 
     minister Digvijay Singh and his government for taking 
     effective steps to reassure the small Christian community in 
     the Adivasi-majority district of Jhabua, which had seen much 
     tension on the eve of the meeting organized today by the 
     Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh wing Seva Bharati.
       The All India Christian Council deputed its Gujarat unit 
     secretary and well-known Human rights activist Mr. Samson 
     Christian to Jhabua yesterday in solidarity with the 
     Christians of the district, which was scene of the infamous 
     mass rape of Catholic nuns three years ago. A vicious 
     Hindutva communal rhetoric preceded the holding of the Sangh 
     meeting, targeting Christians in the region. Much of the 
     social educational and Medicare work in the Madhya Pradesh 
     Tribal belt has been by Christian missions.
       The Council has repeatedly expressed its deep apprehension 
     at the activities of the Sangh Parivar in the contiguous 
     tribal areas of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In 
     recent months, more than 3.5 lakh trishuls machined as 
     weapons and not as innocuous religious symbols, have been 
     distributed in the Rajasthan area. In Madhya Pradesh, the 
     Sangh has announced the setting up of 3.5 lakh Devals, or 
     family temples. These areas are already penetrated by Sangh's 
     Shishu mandirs manned by RSS cadres. These schools follow a 
     curricula and textual material, which is outside the pale of 
     any academic and public scrutiny, blatantly rewrites history, 
     and poisons young minds.
       Taken together, these actions constitute a well thought out 
     strategy to polarize and communalise the tribal society in 
     the state of Madhya Pradesh and also in the states of 
     Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa, Jharkand and Chhatisgarh to serve 
     the political agenda of the Sangh Parivar. The Adivasis have 
     strongly objected to these efforts to obliterate their 
     culture and their identity.
       The Council has called upon the governments of the 
     concerned states, as also on the Central government to ensure 
     that this insidious conspiracy against the Adivasi identity 
     is not allowed to succeed.

     

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