America
Indian victims of conversions “Ghar Wapsi†join lawsuit in US court
New York, May 26, 2015.
The victims of forced
conversions from India
joined the pending lawsuit with US Federal Court seeking “Foreign Terrorist
Organization†(FTO) status for a Hindu supremacist group, a release from the Sikhs for Justice said.
In November 2014
a forced conversions campaign called “home comings†was launched by powerful Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist group that is the ideological
wing of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and that once employed
the prime minister, Narendra Modi. India's 1.2 billion people are
predominantly Hindus but there are also about 160 million Muslims and a small
proportion of Christians.
The lawsuit
pleads that "RSS along with its affiliates and subsidiaries be designated
as an FTO, in accordance with Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act (INA) and designate RSS as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity
(SDGT) under Executive Order 13224".
37 seven page
complaint filed by Micheal Masih, Hasim Ali and Kulwinder Singh, the named
plaintiffs belonging to Christian, Muslim and Sikh faiths allege that since election
of 2014, ruling party BJP's ideological mentor RSS is attempting to forcibly
convert their families into Hinduism.
One of the
Plaintiffs, Masih, alleges that "in November 2014, workers of RSS party
invaded Plaintiff’s home in India and told his wife that they have received
orders and directions from the headquarter of RSS to warn all the Christians in
the area to be prepared to convert to "Hinduism" or get ready to die.
The RSS workers harassed, menaced, abused, and threatened Plaintiff's wife and
told her that she and her family must be prepared to convert to Hinduism or
die".
May 26 complaint
filed before Judge Laura Taylor Swain cites 2015 report of the US Commission on
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) that "in December 2014, Hindu
nationalist groups announced plans to forcibly “reconvert†at least 4,000
Christian families and 1,000 Muslim families to Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh on
Christmas day as part of a so-called “Ghar Wapsi†(returning home) program. In
advance of the program, the Hindu groups sought to raise money for their
campaign, noting that it cost nearly 200,000 rupees (US $3,200) per Christian
and 500,000 rupees (US $8,000) per Muslim".
"In the
amended complaint, we have invoked International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)
of 1998 which was enacted to express United
States foreign policy with respect individuals persecuted
in foreign countries on account of religion and to authorize United States actions in response
to violations of religious freedom in foreign countries, stated attorney
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun legal advisor to rights group.
"Based on the
evidence and recent report of USCIRF, Obama administration is bound under law
to declare organizations like RSS as terror groups", added Pannun.
The case against
Hindu supremacist group was originated by rights group "Sikhs For
Justice" (SFJ), requesting the US Court to declare RSS as “terror groupâ€
for "believing in and practicing a fascist ideology and for running a
passionate, vicious and violent campaign to turn India into a "Hindu"
nation with a homogeneous religious and cultural identity".