[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 21] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 30535] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]INDIA PROTESTS POPE'S VISIT ______ HON. DAN BURTON of indiana in the house of representatives Tuesday, November 16, 1999 Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I was disturbed to learn of the organized protests against Pope John Paul II in anticipation of his recent visit to India. In fact, many would tell you that there was more reason to worry about his safety on this trip than when he traveled to communist Poland under martial law. Although the Pope left the country safely, I cannot forget the ghastly image printed by the media of Hindu activists burning an effigy of Pope John Paul II in New Delhi before his visit. Mr. Speaker, these protests were led by a violent faction of Hindu fundamentalists that are closely aligned with the Hindu nationalist government. They have carried out a wave of brutal attacks on Christians within the past year. Since Christmas Day of 1998, they have burned down Christian churches, prayer halls, and schools. Also, four priests have been murdered, and earlier this year Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned alive. How much more of this must we witness? Already 200,000 Christians, 250,000 Sikhs, 65,000 Muslims, and tens of thousands of others have fallen at the hands of either the Indian government or those closely related to the government since the subcontinent's independence a half- century ago. Mr. Speaker, I submit the articles from India Abroad and the New York Post into the Record regarding this disturbing issue. [From the New York Post, Oct. 28, 1999] Pope's Passage to India May Be Most Perilous Yet (By Rod Dreher) Will Pope John Paul II be safe in India? There is more reason to worry for the pontiff's welfare as he visits the world's largest democracy next week than there was when he went to communist Poland under marital law. That's because a small but violent faction of Hindu fundamentalists aligned with the Hindu nationalist government have been conducting an organized campaign against the pope as part of a concerted effort to demonize and persecute the country's tiny Christian minority. The government promises to protect the Holy Father from coalition fanatics. But while John Paul can rely on state security, his Catholic followers and Protestant brethren remain at the mercy of Hindu brownshirts. These thugs have carried out vicious attacks on Christians since a coalition led by the hard-line Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power two years ago. Freedom House, the Washington-based human-rights organization, says there have been more recorded incidents of violence against India's Christian minority in the past year than in the previous half-century. The most shocking incident took place in January, when Hindu thugs burned alive Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two little boys. That was far from an isolated incident. In 1998, the Catholic Bishop's Conference in India reported 108 cases of beatings, stonings, church burnings, looting of religious schools and institutions, and other attacks on Catholics and evangelicals. It has been just as bad this year. Just last month, a Catholic priest working in the same territory as the Staines family was murdered while saying Mass for converts, his heart pierced by a poison-tipped arrow. Why the attacks? Hindu nationalist leaders, particularly those associated with the BJP-allied World Hindu Congress (VHP), claim Christians are on ``conversion overdrive.'' This is preposterous. Despite being present in India for almost 2,000 years, and educating hundreds of millions of Indian children, Christianity claims the allegiance of less than 3 percent of the country's people. Even in Orissa state, site of the worst anti-Christian violence, fewer than 500 conversions occur each year. Still, Hindu nationalists continue to make wild-eyed assertions, such as VHP leader Mohan Joshi's recent statement that missionary homes run by Mother Teresa's order were ``nothing but conversion centers.'' Not true, but if it were, so what? We know perfectly well what would have become of the diseased and the destitute had Mother Teresa's nuns not rescued them from the street: They would have been left to die in the gutter, condemned by a culture that decrees these lowborn souls deserve their fate. ``What has the VHP done to better the life of the low castes? The answer is nothing,'' says Freedom House investigator Joseph Assad. ``When I was in India, I talked to one Christian who was forcibly reconverted to Hinduism. He told me when no one cared for us, Christians came and gave us food, gave us shelter and gave us medicine.'' An Indian Protestant activist who lives in New Jersey told me BJP rule has meant open season on followers of Christ. ``The last two years have been unprecedented,'' the man says. ``They have burned churches down, raped nuns, killed people. We complain to the government, but they look the other way.'' The Hindu militants certainly do not represent the sentiments of all Hindus. But these thugs have the tacit support and protection of the ruling BJP. Indeed, the BJP Web site condemns ``Semitic monotheism''--Judaism, Christianity and Islam--for ``bringing intolerance to India.'' This is what is known to professional propagandists as the Big Lie. No wonder Hindu hard-liners confidently pillage Christian communities. How many more Hindu-led atrocities will Christians and others suffer before Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee calls off the nationalist dogs? Will it take a physical assault on the Holy Father for the world to wake up to the kind of place Gandhi's great nation has become. ____ [From India Abroad, Oct. 29, 1999] Protest March Launched Against the Pope's Visit (By Frederick Noronha) Panaji, Goa.--Hindu right-wing groups flagged off a Goa-to- Delhi protest march on Oct. 21 that could fuel the controversy surrounding Pope John Paul II's visit to India, scheduled for early November. The campaigners are protesting what they call large-scale conversions to Christianity in India and want the Pope to say that all religions are equal. The protest march, which is scheduled to end in Delhi around the time of the Pope's visit, is being called a ``Dharma Jagran Abhiyan.'' It was flagged off from Divar, an island off Old Goa, once a center for Catholic evangelization. ``This awareness march is for people of all religions. Christians are brothers of the same blood,'' said Subhash Velingkar, one of the organizers of the march. Velingkar lashed out at the English language media for voicing concern that the march could ignite anti-Christian feelings. At the same time, however, Velingkar condemned religious conversions saying that they changed ``not just the religion of people, but also their culture and traditions.'' He criticized Delhi Archbishop Alan de Lastic for ``sending an SOS message to the Vatican'' complaining about the situation in India. ``Why should people from India complain to the Vatican?'' he asked. Velingkar reiterated the demand voiced by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the right-wing affiliate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which leads the coalition government at the Center, that the Pope should make an admission in his public address at Delhi that all the religions are the same and all lead to salvation. The VHP last week once again welcomed the Pope's visit, stating that it was not against Christianity, but was opposed to ``Churchainity.'' A VHP affiliate, the Sanskriti Raksha Manch, has already demanded an apology from the Pope for the atrocities committed during Inquisition in Portuguese-ruled Goa in the 16th century. From Goa, the march passes through Belgaum, Nipani, Mumbai, Kolhapur and Nashik in Karnataka and Maharashtra, before entering Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and then onward to Delhi, covering the 1,300-mile route in about a fortnight. It will reach Delhi by the time of the Pope's visit on Nov. 5. Newspaper reports quoted Manohar Parrikar, the BJP Leader of the Opposition in the Goa Assembly, as saying that his party was neither opposing nor supporting the march. He said the movement's leadership was not under the control of the BJP and while individual members of the party were free to join it, the party could not be held responsible for any untoward incident arising from the march. ____________________