Letter to Congressman Bill Foster on HR 417

US congressman Joe Pitts a republican from Pennsylvania district 16 along with 13 other bi partisan sponsors introduced a resolution number 417 in the house on Nov 18th. This resolution besides many other inane gibberish about minority protection in India applauds the US departments anti Modi visa policy. This resolution rightfully did not find any coverage in the US media but the Modi bashing left leaning paid media in India went abuzz with the news. Therefore I went through the text of this resolution and it's current status at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hres417#overview . The govtrack website shows the likelihood of this resolution making past the committee as 2%. However, as a Hindu I thought it was my duty to register my protest with the congressman of my district. I sent him this letter tonight and I am posting it here so that all responsible Americans particularly Hindu Americans can register their protest with their respective congressmen/women. It is very simple to lodge your concern via your congressman/woman's website. Just google your congressional district using your zip code and then find the name of the congressman/woman for the district on Google itself. Go to his/her website, click on contact, the site will ask you for your zip code and then take you to a form that you can fill out. Alternatively you can call their office, the number will be available on their website. Feel free to use any and all of the below arguments in your communication.

Here is what I wrote:

---------------------------------

Dear Mr Foster,

I had the pleasure of meeting you on the occasion of the Hindu festival of universal brotherhood "Rakshabandhan", as part of the HSS delegation in the month of August this year. We chatted about the contribution of ancient Hindu civilization in the areas of physics, Maths and astronomy. I am reaching out to you with regards to the House Resolution 417 sponsored by congressman Joe Pitts (republican from Pennsylvania district 16). I strongly oppose this anti Hindu, anti India and anti democracy resolution and request your support in opposing this bill. If passed this resolution will not only go against the desires of 1 billion+ Hindus (including those living in IL district 11) but will also be against the long term economic and strategic interests of United States in the South Asian region. I urge you to oppose this resolution on following three grounds that I have elaborated below: (i) It lacks sound logic (ii) It mocks democratic institutions and constitution of world's largest democracy (iii) it will hurt US economic and strategic interests in the region

(I) Lacks Sound Logic

This  resolution squarely places the blame of unfortunate riots that happened in the Indian state of Gujarat in the year 2002 on the government of Gujarat and implicates  democratically elected (3 times) chief minister of Gujarat Mr Narendra Modi for being complicit in the communal violence that erupted in the state following the burning alive of 59 Hindu pilgrims including women and children by a Muslim fanatic mob. The resolution while applauding the role of Indian Supreme Court in bringing the guilty to justice, completely ignores the findings of the Special Investigation Team appointed by the same Supreme Court that found Mr Modi not guilty of any of the alleged crimes.

(II) Mocks Democratic Institutions of India

This resolution calls for repealing of the laws that ban forced and fraudulent religious conversion in the states of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh etc. Such a demand from US congress to repeal the laws that are passed by democratically elected legislatures in accordance with tenets of Indian constitution that offers complete religious freedom to all sections of the society would amount to a travesty of democracy. These laws ban religious conversions by fraudulent and forcible means but do not place any restrictions on professing, practicing, and propagating any religion. Despite this these laws have been challenged in high courts and even Supreme Court of India multiple times and they have all been upheld on the ground that Indian constitution article 25 guarantees the right to "propagate" ones religion but that does not amount to the right to "convert" by any means that a community chooses to employ.

(III) Hurts US economic and strategic interests in the region

This resolution applauds the state department for maintaining the policy of denying US visa to honorable chief minister of Gujarat Mr Narendra Modi. While Mr Modi has never expressed a desire to travel to the US, taking such a position at this juncture against Mr Modi who is the prime ministerial candidate of the largest opposition party in India and is extremely popular among the Indian masses would put the USA in an awkward diplomatic position with India in the event of him being elected to the office of prime minister in June 2014, which is highly likely going by the latest opinion polls. Mr Modi unlike the communist leaning Congress party, holds a very business friendly approach to governance and actively seeks to open Indian markets for foreign investments in the areas of infrastructure, technology etc. Even in his capacity as chief minister of Gujarat he has attracted millions of dollars in Foreign Direct Investment into the state and maintains strong economic ties with US allies such as Japan, Israel, and South Korea. Thus avoiding any mention of this flawed visa policy would be in the best diplomatic interest of United States.

I sincerely hope that you would support mine and my fellow Hindu American's views on this resolution and help defeat it in the house. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Ajay Jain 

-------------------------