[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 25080-25081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        A VISION OF HINDU INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 26, 2000

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I noticed two recent articles that 
underline the religious tyranny in India. One was in the New York Times 
and the other was in the Washington Times. Together, they show that for 
minorities, the promise of Indian secularism and religious freedom is a 
mirage.
  The RSS, a militant Hindu nationalist organization, wants to ban 
foreign churches from India. It wants to reconvert everybody who 
converted from Hinduism to any other religion, such as Christianity or 
Islam. The RSS published a booklet encouraging people to file false 
criminal cases against Christians and members of other minority 
religions. They are moving ahead with plans to build a Hindu temple on 
the site of a very revered mosque. Is this how they practice secularism 
and religious tolerance in India?
  The ruling BJP is under the umbrella of the RSS. In fact, Prime 
Minister Vajpayee just about a month ago told an audience that he will 
``always'' be a part of the RSS. Shiv Sena, a militant coalition 
partner of the BJP, is also part of the RSS.
  Since Christmas 1998, Christians have been subjected to church 
burnings, attacks on Christian schools and prayer halls, nuns being 
raped, priests being murdered, the burning murder of a missionary and 
his two little sons, and so many other atrocities that I have lost 
trace of them. Two independent investigations show that 35 Sikhs were 
massacred in Chithi Singhpora while the President was visiting in 
March. Now these disturbing articles have come to light. How far will 
this pattern of religious hostility go on before we do something to 
stop it?
  We should declare India a violator of religious rights. In light of 
that, we should cut U.S. aid to India. Why should the American taxpayer 
be forced to pay taxes to support a government that engages in such 
policies? We should also put ourselves on record in support of self-
determination for Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagalim, and the other minority 
nations living under Indian rule. It is our responsibility to do what 
we can to support freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the following New York Times article into the 
Record for the information of my colleagues and the American people.

         A Camp Meeting Celebrates the Vision of a Hindu India

                           By Celia W. Dugger

       AGRA, India, Oct. 15--Dust rose in dervishes across the 
     dun-colored parade ground here, swirling around the legs of 
     almost 60,000 uniformed men and boys from more than 7,000 
     villages. Those foot soldiers in the quest for a Hindu nation 
     stood in ruler-straight lines that stretched as far as the 
     eye could see.
       They had come to a three-day camp to celebrate the 75th 
     anniversary of the Rashtriya Swayamservak Sangh, or the 
     National Volunteers Association. It is a powerful disciplined 
     and, some believe, dangerously divisive organization that has 
     given rise to a

[[Page 25081]]

     raft of affiliated groups, including the Bharatiya Janata 
     party that now leads India's coalition government.
       After an hour of toe touches, deep knee bends and push-ups, 
     the volunteers sat cross-legged in the dirt and lay down 
     their long bamboo staffs to listen raptly to their leader, 
     K.S. Sudarashan. He inspired them with a vision of India as 
     an ancient and tolerant Hindu nation, but warned that the 
     country was threatened from within by Christian churches that 
     he described as foreign dominated and funded.
       Although Christians have lived in India for 2,000 years and 
     make up only 2 percent of its one billion people, he raised 
     the specter of Christian conversions diminishing the 
     dominance of Hindus and leading to secessionist movements. He 
     criticized Christian and Muslim Indians who have refused, in 
     his eyes, to embrace their Hindu heritage. He called on 
     Christians to sever links with ``foreign'' churches and set 
     up a Church of India. And he condemned Roman Catholic 
     missionaries who believe that only their path leads to 
     salvation.
       ``How can we allow such people to work here?'' he asked 
     from his podium high above the ground. A larger-than-life 
     likeness of the Hindu god Krishna loomed behind him.
       Fifty-three years after India gained its independence from 
     British rule, Mr. Sudarshan's movement is still agitating for 
     a redefinition of the nation's founding secular values. They 
     were enunciated in the 1950 Constitution, which guarantees 
     ``the right freely to profess, practice and propagate 
     religion.'' And they were ardently defended by India's first 
     prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who believed that religious 
     minorities could retain their identities and still be loyal 
     Indians.
       In contrast, the Hindu nationalist ideology defines India 
     as a Hindu nation whose people share a common geography, 
     culture and ancestry. In this view, Muslims and Christians 
     were converted from Hinduism and need to be reintegrated into 
     the Hindu mainstream--a theme first sounded in the 1920's and 
     articulated by Mr. Sudarshan today.
       After the closing ceremony, thousands of volunteers, all 
     dressed in paramilitary-style khaki shorts, white shirts and 
     black caps, rushed from their rigid grid on the field toward 
     the dignitaries sitting on red velvet couches in the blazing 
     sun. A group of them surrounded Home Minister Lal Krishna 
     Advani, who started in the R.S.S., moved to the Bharatiya 
     Janata party, and is now believed to be in line to inherit 
     the mantle of leadership from Prime Minister Atal Behari 
     Vajpayee, who joined the R.S.S. back in the 1940's.
       As orders blared from a tower of loudspeakers, Mr. Advani 
     joined the rows of men in making the movement's salute (hand 
     held stiffly across the chest, palm down) on the count of 
     one, lowering his head on two and dropping his arm on three.
       His presence here was another tantalizing clue in one of 
     the country's favorite parlor games: Are the R.S.S. and the 
     B.J.P.--the political party that is part of the Sangh 
     Parivar, or R.S.S. family--hand in glove or at each other's 
     throats?
       The answer seems to be a little of both. There is a natural 
     tension between them, Mr. Sudarshan's movement, which is 
     striving to build a Hindu nation from the grass roots up, is 
     purist in its ideology. The ruling party, which is striving 
     for political power, has set aside many of its Hindu 
     nationalist planks to win the support of regional parties 
     with secular outlooks. It is no longer pushing for the 
     construction of a Hindu temple on the site of a demolished 
     16th-century mosque in Ayodhya, for example.
       But the movement and the governing party also need each 
     other. The party relies on the movement's vast network of 
     committed volunteers at election time. And the movement 
     enjoys a measure of political influence because of its close 
     ties to the party.
       ``The relationship is a bit like that between the Christian 
     Coalition and the Republican Party,'' said Ashutosh Varshney, 
     a political scientist at Notre Dame and an expert on India.
       More than half a million boys and men attend the daily 
     meetings of the R.S.S. in 45,000 local branches all over 
     India. The group's appeal is part Boy Scouts, part crusaders. 
     Many become volunteers for the daily physical exercise, 
     sports and camaraderie, but were later fired by the 
     association's idea of nationhood.
       The camp here in Agra was an organization feat, subdivided 
     into many smaller neighborhoods where sanitation, roads, 
     electricity and cooking facilities had all been installed by 
     the association.
       At 4:30 this morning, a bugle woke the swayamsevaks, or 
     volunteers, while a full moon still dangled over the grounds. 
     By 6 a.m., as dawn broke and a pinkish-orange orb of sun 
     rose, they had lined up for exercise drills. Afterward, they 
     sang a song calling on the volunteers to awaken to threats 
     from India's enemies and traitors. The high-pitched voices of 
     young boys cut through the low hum of the men's singing.
       Many of those here were new recruits. Rajkumar Gupta, 13, 
     could explain little of the group's ideology. He studies in a 
     school run by an affiliate of the association. He and the 160 
     students in the school had come with their teachers ``because 
     the school told us to.''
       Abhinay Kumar Sharma, 15, was attending his second camp and 
     he had learned some of the association's thinking. ``The 
     Sangh is here to fight social evils, for example, conversions 
     to Christianity,'' he said. ``This is a Hindu nation and 
     conversions are divisive and this will lead to the division 
     of the country.''
       Lal Singh, a 65-year-old farmer, echoed the same theme, 
     saying: ``Conversion is wrong. This is against our culture. 
     And in these other religions, this sense of humanity and 
     service to man is not there, while it is in our religion.''
       Yashpal Singh Nayak, 26, a traveling perfume salesman, 
     worried that extended families are breaking down into nuclear 
     families and that women are leaving their faces unveiled in 
     front of elders and males. ``If it continues like this,'' he 
     said, ``it will be a serious threat to Indian culture.''

     

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