Hindu Americans must Speak out NOW Against the Crack-down on Citizen Dissent in India
Raju Rajagopal, Co-founder, HfHR
PRESS RELEASE:
September 20, 2020
Berkeley, CA
Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) calls on the Hindu American community and lawmakers in Washington to speak up now to halt the precipitous slide of Indian Democracy under Prime Minister Modi
“If we are complacent, if we are silent, we are complicit in perpetuating
these cycles of violence. None of us can turn away. We all have an obligation
to speak out.”
- Joe Biden Tweet in May 2020
HfHR joins the global Indian Diaspora organizations in calling for an independent enquiry into the North-East Delhi pogroms. We strongly condemn the arrest and intimidation of students, activists, and academics for exercizing their constitutional right to free speech and for participating in peaceful protests. We demand the immediate release of all political prisoners, including Umar Khalid, who was the latest to be arrested for the crime of calling for non-violent satyagraha.
We appeal to the India American community, especially Hindu-Americans, to speak up before it is too late against the policies of the Hindu Nationalist government of Prime Minister Modi, which is systematically dismantling India’s Democracy. We must unite to stop the nation’s march towards a majoritarian Hindu state, which is already stripping the rights of minorities enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
As we make this urgent appeal, we call on the community to remember and honor the hardships and sacrifices made by early immigrant pioneers from South Asia, who paved the way for others like us to contribute to this welcoming society:
Just last week, the City of Berkeley renamed a part of its main street after Kala Bagai, who was one of the first South Asian women on the West Coast in 1915: “She faced both local housing discrimination in Berkeley, as well as federal racism when her husband Vaishno Das Bagai's US citizenship was nullified, ultimately driving him to suicide. But she persisted, building a new life, and going on to become a critical immigrant connector and organizer in Southern California after World War II.’”
Bhagat Singh Thind fought in the US Army towards the end of World War I. After the war, he sought to become a naturalized citizen…[But] In 1923, the Supreme Court ruled against him, which retroactively denied all Indian Americans the right to obtain United States citizenship for failing to meet the definition of a "white person." Bhagat Singh later applied successfully for citizenship through the State of New York.
Jhamandas Watumull Ramchandani came to Hawaii in 1914 and was one of the first South Asian immigrants on the island. The Watumulls are well known today for their Aloha design and textiles in their popular stores on the island. His brother, Gobindram, was just a month away from US citizenship when his American born wife, Ellen, lost her citizenship as a result of the Bhagat Singh ruling. Ellen fought for the restoration of citizenship of women like her who had married South Asians. She pushed for the 1922 Cable Act and got her citizenship back in 1931.
It is a matter of great regret that today a large part of the burgeoning Indian American community seems to take our presence here for granted, unaware of the struggles of our early pioneers. And, sadly, many of us don’t seem to have second thoughts about supporting a government in India that is openly targeting India’s minorities, even as we ourselves enjoy all the rights in this society as religious and ethnic minorities.
In our view, it is not enough for lawmakers of Hindu origin to declare that they are busy defending American Democracy from White Nationalism. When they choose to ignore the large scale suppression of democratic dissent in India and/or support the Modi government, they dishonour Indian Democracy, and in turn they dishonour our immigrant pioneers and the Civil Rights movement to which we owe a great debt of gratitude.
And as Hindus, we feel strongly that conflating political Hindutva with Hinduism, as Hindu Nationalists would like us to do, dishonours Hinduism’s ancient call for “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” (The world is one family).
The time to speak up is running out. If we don’t, history will remember us as a community that enabled the emergence of Fascism in India. And our political leaders will be remembered as those who knowingly chose not to speak up when they could have made a difference.
Hindus for Human Rights (.org)
OUR MISSION & VISION
ht t p s: / / w ww .h in d us f or hu ma n rig ht s . org (HfHR) is a U.S.-based advocacy organization that is committed to the ideals of multi-religious pluralism in the United States, India and beyond.
We speak from a Hindu perspective for shanti (peace), nyaya (justice) and the manavtha (human rights) of all communities. Our Vision is lokasangraha (universal common good) - a world where there is peace among all people, and our planet is honored and protected.
Press Contact: Raju Rajagopal info@hindusforhumanrights
510-318-4332