H.R. 417 Anti-India; Harmful to US-India Relations

The year 2014 begins with a particularly pernicious and irresponsible piece of legislation circulating the United States Congress.  It is H.R. 417 which begins by praising India but follows with nothing but propaganda and mischaracterizations that could set back US-India relations by decades.  The resolution singles out India as a nation that regularly tolerates attacks on minorities, while its backers would never think of calling out the worst violators of minority rights including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.  Moreover, I have been in India for about a month every year, and every time I've been there, there has been at least one terrorist attack and anti-religious action.  Not one of them has been perpetrated against a minority, but every single one has been perpetrated against the majority Hindu community.


H.R. 417 is also presumptuous and ethnocentric.  India has enacted and enforced a plethora of laws that protect minorities; some might even say advantage them.  417 additionally singles out one of India's two major candidates for Prime Minister and accuses him of racism and atrocities. What's wrong with that?  First, it's not true.  Second, Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has been cleared again and again of any wrongdoing, including being cleared by India's Supreme Court, which has stellar reputation internationally.  How insulting for a group of people half way around the world, who have not seen a tenth of the evidence reviewed by India's Supreme Court, to presume that they know better due to some sort of entitlement!  And consider this:  Right now, it looks more likely than not that Narendra Modi will be India's next Prime Minister.  How do we--a nation that welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin and whose President bows to the Saudi King--apologize for that insult and make relations whole again?

The Hindu American Foundation has uncovered the biased motives of the group behind H.R. 417, the misnomered Committee Against Genocide, as well as its discredited information, and anti-Hindu hatred.  See The Coalition Against Genocide:  A Nexus of Hinduphobia Unveiled.

You can help stop this dangerous and prejudiced bill by contacting your Representative in Congress and urging or demanding that he or she oppose the resolution.  If your Representative is already a co-sponsor, urge him or her to do as Congressman Steve Chabot did who withdrew his co-sponsorship when he was apprised of the facts.  You can find your Congressman or Congresswoman through this site.

Hindu Genocide Museum Proposed

A group of concerned citizens from several areas across the United States are looking to build a museum dedicated to educating people about the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Hindus in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and elsewhere.  The effort is in the early stages, but we know that the intention is to pattern the museum after the holocaust museums commemorating the Nazi attempt to wipe out the Jewish people.  More to come on this.

To help with any of these or other efforts, please email me.