Indian Americans urge US President elect to go tough on Modi govt, speak out against its ‘authoritarian rule’

Even as the preparations for the oath taking ceremony of the US president elect Joe Biden is underway in Washington DC, a group of Indian Americans has urged Biden to go tough on the Modi government, and refrain from appointing persons linked to “militant Hindu organisations such as the RSS”.

Highlighting India’s disrespect for personal liberty, open oppression of minorities and atrocities on Dalits, the group has shot off a letter to the president elect and asked him to garner support for the House Bill H.Res.745.

House Bill H.Res.745 was a resolution in the United States Congress urging “India to end the restrictions on communications and mass detentions in Jammu and Kashmir as swiftly as possible and preserve religious freedom for all residents.”

Pertinently, in the run up to the presidential election, Biden had said that “the Indian government should take all necessary steps to restore rights for all the people of Kashmir. Restrictions on dissent, such as preventing peaceful protests or shutting or slowing down the Internet, weaken democracy.”

Saying that India under the Modi regime has shown no consideration for protecting the minority rights, and by enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) it has tried to end the secularism in India, the Indian Americans told Biden, “Together with plans for a nationwide National Registry of Citizens, the CAA threatens to disenfranchise millions of Indian Muslims, a move that you expressed concern about in your campaign”.

“The BJP is an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu paramilitary organization that believes India is a country solely for Hindus, and views other minority groups as enemies or infiltrators,” reads the letter written by the group.

Cautioning Biden to “thoroughly screen all individuals offering advice to, lobbying, vying for a position within, or in any way engaging with your administration” the group of Indian Americans said, “Specifically, there should be no tolerance for any individuals who uphold any form of supremacist belief, including in Hindu supremacy, both in India and the US. As a broad coalition representing the interests of the Indian American, we demand to be involved in this screening process”.

“The BJP and RSS have long sought to influence – and infiltrate – American politics through its affiliate diaspora organizations. Worryingly, many South Asian-Americans individuals with ties to far-right Hindu organizations in India are affiliated with the Democratic party,” it cautioned.

The group, which comprises of several human rights groups as well as Ambedkarites noted that the India under Modi regime “plunges further into authoritarian rule, the need for the American government to speak out against human rights violations in the country—and take steps to counteract it—will only grow starker.”

The group of Indian Americans has also urged Biden to add caste as a protected category in civil rights laws and company policies.

The Indian American Alliance Against Caste has long been demanding that caste be included as a vector of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in America.