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In a stinging letter to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, the US-based Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), referring to the report citing his justification for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) – that “while Muslims can choose any one of the 150 Islamic countries in the world (for residence), India is the only country for Hindus" – has said, he should remember, Hindus have made several countries, including USA, their home.
Referring to CAA, the HfHR said, the "parochial and unconstitutional act" of the government has put "all of us on the defensive", adding, "Indians today are being regarded with the same suspicion that people used to look at Pakistanis and Saudis."
The letter asks Rupani, "Is this what you are supporting?"
Text:
As an organization representing Hindu-Americans working for pluralism and the human rights of all communities in India, United States, and beyond, we would like to bring the following to your kind attention: Back in 2002, the Vajpayee BJP government set up a high-level committee on the Indian diaspora, which reported the presence of substantial numbers of Indians in over half the countries of the world.To quote Dr LM Singhvi, who headed the committee, "We tend to think of ourselves as a people whose history was made only in India. The report shows how false this view is. 119 countries where our people are to be found to represent our ‘karma bhumi’ just as much as India."
While many of those countries may represent colonial era out-migrations under duress (i.e. indentured labour), the fact that Indians have made so many countries their homes is testament to the welcome of those countries to new people and new ideas, regardless of whether they are Hindus, or Muslims, or Christians or of any other faith.
India too has historically heeded the call of our ancestors encapsulated in "athithi devobahava," as we have welcomed persecuted Jews during the inquisitions, Zoroastrians from Iran, Buddhists from Tibet, Hindus from Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and so on.
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It is this proud history that you seem to be either unaware of or are glossing over with your justification for the CAA, which is clearly a step towards a 'Hindu Rashtra' that seeks to alienate non-Hindus in their own land of birth.
We hope that you will note the fact that Shri Vajpayee’s government never mentioned Hindus as an exclusive group in the diaspora and the committee’s report talks about Indians of all faiths who look to India as their motherland.
We hope that you will note the fact that Shri Vajpayee’s government never mentioned Hindus as an exclusive group in the diaspora and the committee’s report talks about Indians of all faiths who look to India as their motherland.
While we Indians – and Hindus -- have historically been welcomed in many countries as business people, professionals and entrepreneurs, the recent parochial and unconstitutional acts of the government have put all of us on the defensive. Indians today are being regarded with the same suspicion that people used to look at Pakistanis and Saudis. Is this what you are supporting?
Hindus for Human Rights USA (HfHR) is saddened to see so many politicians who have sworn to uphold the Indian Constitution, who now seem to be abrogating that sacred oath by supporting an unconstitutional religious test as a path to citizenship.
Hindus for Human Rights USA (HfHR) is saddened to see so many politicians who have sworn to uphold the Indian Constitution, who now seem to be abrogating that sacred oath by supporting an unconstitutional religious test as a path to citizenship.
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