Contact: Raju Rajagopal or Sunita Viswanath, Cofounders
Email: info@hindusforhumanrights.org
Phone: (917) 518-2441

PRESS RELEASE 

Hindus for Human Rights, USA, welcomes USCIRF’s concern for surging religious bigotry in India in the wake of citizenship protests and COVID-19

New York, April 28, 2020

Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), a US-based advocacy organization dedicated to advocating for the human rights of all communities in India, US, and beyond, welcomes the2020 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which has elevated India from a ‘Tier 2’ country to a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC).

As an organization with strong personal roots in both India and the US, this step taken by USCIRF to place the world’s largest democracy in the company of several authoritarian regimes is particularly painful to us. However, we feel that it is an important and necessary step that is consistent with our own assessment from our ground reports from India – which also confirm rising attacks on the media and the targeting of activists critical of the government. The recent arrest of Dr. Ambedkar’s grand son-in-law Dr. Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha on trumped up charges are a case in point.  

We thank the staff of USCIRF for providing a credible research report to provide the context to the State Department and our congressional representatives to take up the issue of rising authoritarianism and Islamophobia with the Government of India.

The report is sure to elicit more than the usual push-back from the Modi government and its supporters. As one of the only Hindu-based organizations in the US ever to condemn the rising violence against India’s minorities, we sincerely hope that the government of India will refrain from ‘shooting the messenger.’ The time is now for the government to take immediate steps to condemn all religious incitement and punish those guilty of fomenting violence or subjecting the minorities to social boycotts.

We urge our Hindu brothers and others to speak up for Hinduism of peace and tolerance and push back the extremists in our midst.

Vasudaiva Kutumbakam is not just a Upanishadic thought to proclaim whenever it is convenient. This is the time to practice what we have been preaching to the rest of the world and do our bit for a secular and pluralistic India.