For Immediate Release

July 22, 2011

 

USHA USHA Urges India to Withdraw the Draft Bill on Communal Violence

 

July 22, 2011 - Atlanta - The US Hindu Alliance urges the Government of India to immediately withdraw the Draft bill on prevention of communal violence. The substantive and procedural aspects of law as envisioned in the Draft is against the interests of all Hindus and blatantly undemocratic in nature. It will only help destroy the fragile communal harmony that exists in India. USHA wrote the following letter to the leaders of India urging them to find alternative ways to combat communal violence and abort its confrontational approach towards the majority Hindu community which believes in peace, harmony and pluralism.

 

TEXT OF THE USHA LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER AND CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA ON THE DRAFT BILL TO PREVENT COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA

 

July 22, 2011,

 

Smt. Pratibha Singh Patil

President of the Republic of India

Rashtrapathi Bhavan,   

New Delhi 110004, India

 

Dr. Man Mohan Singh

Prime Minister of the Republic of India

Rashtrapathi Bhavan,   

Prime Minister’s Office

Secretariat Building – South Block

New Delhi 110001, India

 

Shri Sarosh Homi Kapadia

Chief Justice    

Supreme Court of India

Tilak Marg, New Delhi 110001, India.

 

Honorable President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India,

Hindus and democrats around the world are shocked, dismayed and fearful about the legal, economic, social and political ramifications of the recently released Draft (“Draft”) of the proposed “Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill of 2011” by the National Advisory Council (“NAC”), a body that finds no legitimacy in the Constitution of India as per numerous distinguished constitutional scholars and eminent jurists.

We recognize that the Draft claims to be an attempt to eradicate the recurring menace of communal violence (religiously or linguistically motivated) from the soil of India. However, we find the bill unacceptable for the following reasons:

1) We find that the stated objectives of the proposed bill to be inconsistent with the text of the Draft, which starts with an inauspicious beginning granting the State of Jammu and Kashmir the discretionary power to accept or reject to be bound by the new national law upon passage by the Indian Parliament. We find that this “separate and preferential treatment” of a Muslim majority state to be inherently prejudicial to Hindus and other religious communities and fundamentally flawed for a secular and democratic nation such as India, and

2) We find the substantive content of the Draft to be highly biased, discriminatory, draconian, extra judicial and illegal in nature and in total violation of the letter and spirit of the Indian Constitution. The examples of such defects are too numerous to enumerate in this letter. However, even a casual reading of the Draft is sufficient to convince skeptics about such recurring defects. Furthermore,

3) We find the procedural frame work that is recommended by the NAC to implement its objectives to suffer from the same category of defects as stated above.

 

Based on these three reasons, we request the Government of India and its constitutional protectors to avoid the consequences of even a debate on this Draft. The rightful place for this Draft is the nearest dustbin since it does not meet even the minimum standards of established judicial practices and traditions of democratic nations, including India.

We further believe that the challenges faced by India in preventing communal violence cannot be mitigated by another piece of legislation. The cumulative impact of greater emphasis on enforcement of existing criminal laws, creation of an independent police force without the influence or interference from political parties, preemptive deployment of adequate central security forces and concentrated efforts to gather vital human intelligence in areas designated as communally sensitive regions shall all result in preventing communal violence and ensuring greater peace and stability in India. Furthermore, the Government of India should constitute bodies at local levels that will bridge the mistrust through Confidence Building Measures (CBM). If India can embrace confidence building measures with Pakistan, it can and should promote the same among its own citizens. That will be a more Gandhian and Indian approach for establishing harmony, peace and stability.

We urge the Government of India to adopt a saner approach that is non confrontational and non divisive in nature so that India may benefit from the fruits of communal harmony. The reactions of Hindus in India and around the world should be adequate proof to the NAC that its Draft is dead on arrival and has had the opposite result, if the stated motives were genuine to begin with. Any delay in aborting the current efforts to promote passage of the bill will lead to communal polarization, civil strife, social and political instability and economic doom that India can hardly afford today or in the future. If that is what happens in the future, then Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of the NAC and the brain behind the Draft, will have to share the burden of guilt for such a disaster with all of you, who, individually and collectively, have the duty and authority to protect the sanctity of the Constitution. May sanity and prudence prevail. Until then, Hindus around the world will remain vigilant and proactive to mobilize public opinion against this Draft bill.

 

Thank you in advance for your understanding of and respect for the Constitution of India and the legitimate sentiments of Hindus around the world, including India’s own 990 million Hindus.

 

Yours respectfully,

 

Gokul Kunnath

President

US Hindu Alliance

 

cc: Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari,

Honorable Vice President of India and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

 

Smt. Meira Kumar,

Honorable Speaker of the Lok Sabha

 

Shri Kariya Munda,

Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha

 

Shri Pranab Mukherjee,

Honorable Leader of the Majority in the Lok Sabha

 

Smt. Sushma Swaraj,

Honorable Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha

 

Smt. Nirupama Rao,

Honorable Foreign Secretary of India and the next Ambassador of India to the United States

 

Shri Arun Jaitley,

Honorable Vice President of India and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

 

Smt. Meera Shankar,

Honorable Ambassador of India to the United States

 

 

Honorable Chief Ministers of all States of India

Honorable Leaders of All major political parties of India