[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H4555-H4556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INDIA: A DEMOCRACY STRUGGLING FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

  Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
  I come to the House floor as a result of a town meeting I had in my 
congressional district in which I heard from the Harvest Christian 
Church. It goes to the point that the United States and India, as all 
of us know, are the world's two largest democracies. However, although 
the Indian National Government guarantees religious freedom, in many of 
the provinces, oppression and persecution still exist. I want to bring 
that to my colleagues' attention this morning. Harvest Christian Church 
in my home district has worked closely with many church groups in 
India. And, as I mentioned, during my last town meeting, Pastor Crowe 
shared with me some of the disturbing things that are happening there.
  On April 1, during Palm Sunday celebrations in Jabalpur, in the 
middle of their worship service, about 30 people from a Hindu extremist 
group--whose name literally means ``religious army''--came with sticks 
and started beating everybody, including the evangelist and the men and 
women and children who were in the congregation that day. The pastor 
was badly beaten and suffers severe head injury. These people were 
admitted in the hospital where people from that group went and 
threatened them. They decided to leave the hospital and are currently 
staying at undisclosed locations. The attackers remain unpunished for 
these crimes. In fact, that day no one from the government condemned 
the attack or sympathized with the victims or the terrorized Christian 
community, not to speak of offering any relief to the family that were 
affected by this terrorist group. The police authorities, though 
reluctant to name the forces behind the attack, announced finally the 
arrest of five persons. All were from a radical Hindu background and 
lived in the slums the pastor used to visit regularly. Persecution such 
as this is not uncommon in India, and these sorts of attacks are not 
isolated incidents.
  My colleagues, in another example, a mob of around 50 Hindu 
extremists surrounded a house church the night of April 22 and began 
shouting derogatory statements at all the worshipers in the church. 
Terrified believers in the church shut the doors, phoned the local 
police and asked for help. Two policemen arrived and took two pastors 
to the police station. En route, a few activists began beating and 
insulting the pastors and four other believers who had accompanied 
them, as the police officers simply looked on. ``At the station, the 
police shouted at the pastors, and the extremists who were present made 
accusations that the pastors were forcibly converting people and 
inciting the people to stop doing Hindu rituals and to remove pictures 
of Hindu deities from their houses,'' George said. The tirade continued 
until 3 a.m., when the pastors were jailed, not being released on bail 
until April 25. The police inspector stated the pastors were charged 
with ``promoting enmity'' between different groups on grounds of 
religion and ``deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage 
religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious 
beliefs.''
  While there is ongoing violence against Christians in India, the good 
news is that it is endemic and the number of incidents are not 
increasing. The BJP is a Hindu political party, which was in national 
power until 2004 when the secular constitution party then came to 
power. However, they still retain positions of power in some states, 
and it is there where the majority of attacks against Christians occur.
  According to the State Department International Religious Freedom 
Report 2006, ``The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and 
the government generally respects this right in practice. However, the 
government sometimes did not act swiftly enough to counter effectively 
societal attacks against religious minorities and attempts by some 
leaders of state and local governments to limit religious freedom. 
Despite government efforts to foster communal harmony, some extremists 
continued to view ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks 
on religious minorities, particularly at the state and local level, as 
a signal that they could commit such violence with impunity.''

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  My colleagues, this is a situation that must not be tolerated. The 
frequency of these attacks and the lack of prosecution of extremists 
who perpetrate these crimes are in direct opposition to the most basic 
tenets of our democracy and surely the democracy in India. I urge the 
Indian Government to protect religious minorities and to take strong 
steps to enforce their constitutional laws regarding religious freedom 
in these oppressive provinces.

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