[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10893]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 INDIA'S ANTI-AMERICANISM REVEALED AS DEFENSE MINISTER ATTACKS AMERICA

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                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 25, 1999

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I was disturbed to hear that the 
Defense Minister of India, George Fernandes, led a meeting of some of 
the world's most repressive regimes at which they agreed that their 
main goal was to ``stop the United States,'' according to the Indian 
Express. Fernandes himself called the United States ``vulgarly 
arrogant.'' This should offend anyone who cares about this country.
  Countries represented at this meeting, according to the newspaper, 
were Communist China--which has been stealing American nuclear secrets 
and pouring illegal money into our political campaigns, Libya, Russia, 
Serbia--the country we are currently fighting, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, 
and Castro's Cuba. Now, Mr. Speaker, I know a bit about Cuba. Castro's 
dictatorship in Cuba is one of the most brutal in the world. It has 
killed and tortured thousands of its opponents.
  By now, we all know the stories of how the Indian government has 
killed tens of thousands of Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Dalit 
untouchables, and others. Just in recent months, I am informed that an 
Australian missionary named Graham Staines and his two young sons were 
burned to death in their Jeep by a militant theocratic Hindu 
Nationalist gang affiliated with the RSS, which is also, I am told, the 
parent organization of the ruling BJP. I am informed that there are 17 
freedom movements in India and the ongoing political instability there 
may be bringing India's breakup close. We should support the peaceful 
struggle for freedom throughout India.
  India destablized South Asia with its nuclear weapons' tests. It was 
a close ally of the Soviet Union and supported the invasion of 
Afghanistan. I am told that it has the most anti-American voting record 
of any country in the United Nations with the exception of Cuba. Why 
does a government like that continue to receive aid from the United 
States?
  Mr. Speaker, the time has come to stop supporting governments that 
actively work against us. We should cut off all American aid to India 
and declare our support for the freedom movements through democratic 
plebiscites. These are important steps to extend the hand of freedom to 
the people of South Asia.

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