Group Endorses U.S. House Resolution 417 to Focus Talks With India on Human Rights Issues

SACRAMENTO: May 15, 2014 – The Interfaith Council of Greater Sacramento (ICGS) announced on Wednesday its endorsement of a U.S. House resolution which makes religious freedom and human rights issues the focus of American talks with India, stating in a letter: “We are persuaded of the importance of House Resolution 417 (known hereafter as H.Res.417) because it will equitably uplift people of all faiths, while specifically calling for justice for minority communities victimized by religiously-motivated violence.” [Click here to read the full ICGS Endorsement of H. Res. 417 (PDF).]

A central argument of the ICGS’s endorsement is the resolution’s call for repeal of Indian anti-conversion laws, which, as the letter states, “criminalize individual conversion away from Hinduism without receiving prior government permission and undergoing a waiting period.” The letter, signed by ICGS President Jon Fish, further states: “We recognize that freedom of religion is the cornerstone of every civilized society and that interjecting the state as a mediator between a person and his or her religious convictions constitutes a denial of religious freedom.” One such law, the Gujarat Religious Freedom Act of 2003, requires people to report to the state 30 days before undergoing a conversion ceremony such as baptism, which groups like Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI) say harms people of all faiths.

“These Orwellian laws are named the exact opposite of what they do, which is to deny freedom of religion by preventing people from converting from one faith to another without the interference of others,” remarked Arvin Valmuci, communications coordinator for OFMI. “Laws criminalizing free conversion are anathema to a civilized society, and in India they hurt not just Christians, but Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs, and really everyone. Only Hindus are exempt and no one converting to Hinduism is required to report to the state. Such laws are unjust, inequitable, prejudiced, and a danger to all humanity. We are deeply grateful to the Interfaith Council in Sacramento for recognizing how important House Resolution 417 is to addressing this problem.”

On April 29, representatives from Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI) attended the ICGS’s monthly meeting to present the group with information about the resolution, which was introduced in November 2013 and currently awaits hearings in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.

Bhajan Singh, Founding Director of OFMI, was joined by Pieter Singh, an advisor to the CA-based human rights group, in enlightening the ICGS board about persecution faced by Indian minorities such as Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs. The board, which consists of members from a dozen faith traditions and represents over 70 Sacramento-region congregations, listened intently as the OFMI delegation explained how House Resolution 417 has strong bipartisan support, helps people of all faiths in India, and would put the United States on record as recognizing and condemning several massacres of Indian minorities.

Bhajan Singh thanked the group for the opportunity to speak, emphasizing the importance of using a position of privilege and safety to speak on behalf of the less fortunate. Threats to religious freedom in India, he suggested, are illustrated by anti-conversion laws passed in several Indian states, including Gujarat. The Gujarati law was introduced in 2003 by Gujarati Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was first elected in 2001 and is now widely rumored as India’s next Prime Minister after his party, Bharatiya Janata, is predicted to win India’s recently-concluded General Election.

In 2003, Dr. Joseph D’souza, president of the All India Christian Council, warned that anti-conversion laws are based on an attempt to preserve the Hindu caste system, which creates a hereditary social system of segregation at the bottom of which are outcastes, who were once called “Untouchables” and now term themselves “Dalits.” D’souza stated: “It is clear that it is the State and the BJP which is using brute state force to prevent the Tribals, Dalits and others who want to choose other faiths and liberate themselves from inhuman discrimination. The mass exodus of the Dalits in the last couple of years to other faiths is the main reason for these draconian laws. Above all this law is anti-Dalit and continues their brutal oppression.”

Although the laws are called “Freedom of Religion” laws, United Nations officials consider them the chief impediment to freedom of religion in India. For instance, Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN’s special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, said in March 2014: “Secularism has come under threat in India. Apart from communal violence, the main point that ranks the highest is anti-conversion laws.” Referencing the massacre of Christians in the State of Odisha in 2008 and the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, Bielefeldt stated: “The acts of violence are part of a broader pattern of instigating fear into the minorities, sending them a message they don’t belong to this country unless they either keep at the margins or turn to Hinduism.”

House Resolution 417 specifically cites the massacres in Odisha and Gujarat as reasons why the U.S. should highlight religious freedom and human rights issues in talks with India. The resolution also commends the U.S. State Department for barring Narendra Modi from entering the U.S. in 2005 under a provision of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 which forbids entry of non-U.S. citizens who may be “responsible for or directly carried out … particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” Modi, as reported in 2012 by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, is the only person ever excluded from entry under this provision “due to his complicity in the 2002 riots that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,100 to 2,000 Muslims.”

OFMI’s presentation ended with a plea for the ICGS board to publicly endorse House Resolution 417, inform its network about the resolution, and visit Sacramento area congressional representatives Ami Bera, Doris Matsui, and John Garamendi to request their co-sponsorship.

ICGS President Jon Fish warmly thanked the delegation. Darshan Mundy, a member of the board who also serves as Public Relations Officer for West Sacramento Sikh Gurdwara, stated: “This issue has my full support.” He also noted that Narendra Modi has targeted Sikh farmers in Gujarat (as OFMI reported in August 2013) by dispossessing them of land and evicting them from the state. Gary Bond, a member of the Bahá’í faith who serves as 2nd Vice President of ICGS, drew comparisons between persecution of minorities in India and adherents of his faith in Iran, promising to bring the resolution to the attention of the U.S. Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs.

The ICGS May 14 endorsement letter concluded: “We endorse passage of H.Res. 417 by the U.S. Congress for the sake of the lives and liberty of all people of faith. We also urgently encourage all other interfaith bodies to consider adopting a similar stance in support of H.Res. 417.”

The resolution currently has 25 Democrats and 24 Republicans as co-sponsors and is endorsed by Christian, Muslim, and Sikh communities throughout the United States.