US: Minnesota’s Democrat congresswoman Ilhan Omar has introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives where she condemned India for its alleged human rights record.
The congresswoman who earlier accused India of ‘violations of religious freedom’ saying ‘Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis and other religious and cultural minorities are being targeted.
Three other Democrat leaders are co-sponsors of the resolution. Fellow member Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American Congresswoman from Michigan is also a signatory of the resolution.
Jim McGovern, a Congressman from Massachusetts and Juan Vargas, a Congressman from California are the other co-sponsors.
Pertinently, Ilhan Omar along with several other prominent ‘socialist’ Democrats like Pramila Jayapal have taken a hawkish stance towards India.
Omar has said that the death of Stan Swamy, and the arrested Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez are examples of the Indian government’s ‘repression of religious minority leaders and voices for religious pluralism’.
She also states that the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, sedition laws and the National Register of Citizens as tools for repression against Muslims.
The USCIRF allegations provide the base for the resolution which also alleges the government represses Hindu converts to Islam and Christianity and harasses interfaith couples.
The US state department earlier this month in its annual report on international religious freedom said that minority religions and their places of worship in India were threatened as they were facing rising attacks.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this year said there were rising attacks on people and places of worship belonging to minorities in India.
The resolution will lapse if it is not taken up till the end of the House term as elections to the new House will be held in November.
