[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 28298-28299]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       BURNING POPE IN EFFIGY SHOWS INDIA'S RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 2, 1999

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to condemn the recent act of 
burning the Pope in effigy by a Hindu fundamentalist group in India. My 
friend Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, 
brought this disgraceful act to my attention. It was reported in India 
Abroad.
  An organizer of the march criticized the Delhi Archbishop for 
contacting the Pope about religious persecution in India. The Pope is 
visiting India soon and the Hindu militants demand that the Pope 
declare all religions the same.
  This follows the rapes of four nuns in India by individuals described 
by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as ``patriotic youth.'' Hindu 
fundamentalists have murdered four priests. Hindu fundamentalists also 
killed Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two little boys by 
surrounding their Jeep and setting it on fire. They have burned 
churches, prayer halls, and Christian schools.
  Sikhs, Muslims, and others have also suffered from similar treatment. 
They, too, have seen their religious shrines desecrated and attacked 
and religious leaders kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by the Indian 
authorities and their Hindu fundamentalist allies. These are people who 
espouse total Hindu domination of every facet of life in India. In this 
light, is it any wonder that so many of the minorities in India's 
multinational empire, such as Christian Nagaland, the Sikhs of Punjab, 
Khalistan, the Kashmiri Muslims, and so many others seek independence 
from India?
  It is time for Congress to encourage freedom for people of the 
subcontinent. I submit the Council of Khalistan's press release on the 
burning of the Pope's effigy into the Record.

    Hindu Activists Burn Effigy of Pope, March to Protest Christian 
                                Activity


                 There is No Religious Freedom in India

       Washington, D.C., October 28, 1999.--Fundamentalist Hindu 
     militants burned an effigy of Pope John Paul II on October 22 
     during a Goa-to-Delhi march to protest Christian religious 
     activity in India, according to a report in the October 29 
     issue of India Abroad. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a 
     branch of the Rashteriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), a pro-
     Fascist, Hindu fundamentalist organization organized the 
     march. The ruling BJP, which leads the 24-party governing 
     coalition in India, is the political arm of the RSS.
       Marchers are protesting large-scale conversions by 
     Christians, according to the article. They are demanding that 
     the Pope proclaim all religions equal during his visit to 
     India next month.
       Subhash Velingkar, an organizer of the march, condemned 
     religious conversions. In the eyes of many Hindu activists, 
     all conversions from Hinduism are `forced'' conversions. 
     Velingkar attacked the Archbishop of Delhi, Alain de Lastic, 
     for communicating with the Vatican about the persecution of 
     Christians in India. ``Why should people from India complain 
     to the Vatican?,'' he demanded.
       Recently a nun named Sister Ruby was abducted by militant 
     Hindus and forced to drink their urine on the threat of being 
     raped. Four other nuns were raped last year. The VHP called 
     the nuns ``antinational elements'' and described the rapists 
     as ``patriotic youth.'' Another priest was recently murdered 
     in India, joining four other priests who were murdered last 
     year.
       Christians have been subjected to a wave of violence since 
     Christmas Day. Churches have

[[Page 28299]]

     been burned and schools and prayer halls have been destroyed. 
     Missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, ages 8 and 10, 
     were burned to death while they slept in their van by a mob 
     of Hindus who surrounded the jeep and chanted ``Victory to 
     Lord Ram.''
       ``We strongly condemn this march and the burning in effigy 
     of the Pope,'' said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the 
     Council of Khalistan, the organization leading the Sikh 
     Nation's struggle for independence from India. ``The ordeal 
     that the Christians are enduring is reminiscent of what the 
     Sikhs, Muslims, and other religious minorities in India go 
     through,'' he said. ``There is no religious freedom in 
     India,'' he said. ``The VHp openly proclaimed that anybody 
     living in India should be a Hindu or subservient to the 
     Hindus.''
       March organizer Velingkar said, ``Christians are brothers 
     of the same blood.'' Dr. Aulakh dismissed that statement. 
     ``The Hindu fundamentalists say the same things about Sikhs 
     being brothers of Hindus,'' he said. ``If that is the case, 
     then why do they continue to murder Sikhs, Christians, 
     Muslims, and others in large numbers?''
       India has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, over 
     200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1988, more than 65,000 
     Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of 
     Assamese, Manipuris, Tamils, Dalits, and others. It continues 
     to hold tens of thousands of members of these groups as 
     political prisoners without charge or trial, according to a 
     report by Amnesty International. Thousands have been 
     illegally detained for as long as 15 years.
       ``Clearly there is no place for religious minorities in 
     democratic, secular India,'' said Dr. Aulakh. ``This only 
     makes the case for freedom for all the minority nations of 
     South Asia stronger,'' he said. ``I call on President Clinton 
     and the Pope to bring up the issues of religious freedom and 
     self-determination on their visits to India,'' he said.

     

                          ____________________