Fwd: Update on HR 417, Action Alert, Attack on HAF & Appeal for Support for HAF

[Malini Kumar]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mihir Meghani (HAF) <mi...@hafsite.org>
Date: Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 3:18 PM
Subject: Fwd: Update on HR 417, Action Alert, Attack on HAF & Appeal for Support for HAF
To: Malini Kumar <kumar...@gmail.com>

Dear Malini, below is an update on H. Res 417 & an appeal to make a final push in 2013 to show our community's strength & unity on this issue. So far our efforts have kept many Congressmen from signing onto this bill & have gotten one Congressman to withdraw support for it, but we must remain active as the Coalition Against Genocide is working hard to pass this bill, and their allies in the Indian Muslim community have hired a lobbying firm which is working full time against us. I wish to thank you and the Malaysian American Foundation for supporting us on this issue and ask you to read below to help out more, including considering an end of year donation to the Hindu American Foundation at www.HAFsite.org/join. Please forward to the Malaysian American Foundation email list.

What can you and other supporters of Hinduism and India do?

1. Contact your Congressmen to ask them to oppose H. Res 417. It is only when they get hundreds of calls from people who vote and donate that they will listen. Anyone can contact their Congressmen - you do not have to be a US citizen. You can also contact other Congressmen, especially if you have a connection with them. The final end of year appeal for this is below & linked here: HAF Appeal to Take Action On H.Res 417 - Stop Further Damage To U.S.-India Relations - Oppose H. Res. 417. Also, thank the 4 Congressmen below who have publicly stated their opposition to H. Res 417.
2. Spread the word to journalists, academics, interfaith leaders, and people of prominence about "Anti-Hindu Indian radicals trying to buy their influence in Congress"
3. Support the Hindu American Foundation with a membership and donation by the end of the year. If you can donate more,  consider becoming members of HAF's Donor Circles. HAF's team, particularly its DC staff, board members, and executive council have been working overtime on this issue.
4. Educate yourself about the background of the Coalition Against Genocide & its allies below.

As you know this anti-India bill (H. Res 417) in the US Congress that has been promoted by a coalition of Indian self-described radicals, communists, marxists and pro-Islamists who hired a lobbying firm to ask for the US government to push for extreme ideas like special courts for minorities & to make human rights a central theme in the US's policy towards India. This resolution in the US Congress's House of Representatives has 42 Congressmen supporting it and really undermines India's independent judiciary, democratic process, and free & open society including media.

As a response to that, we investigated this coalition and found really controversial ties of this group to India's Communist Party, radical marxists groups and banned terrorists groups. The link to this report is here is and also pasted below. The importance of this for the Indian public is that extremists from India are trying to undermine India's open and free institutions in a way that no other group in the US does for any other country - including China, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Saudi Arabia. The Indian public really needs to understand that the lack of respect that India often gets in the foreign press and from international NGOs comes from the bad press from extremists like these. Not that India's doesn't have social problems that need to be remedied, but so does much of the world, but only India has a segment using foreign government institutions to push its agenda.

The relevant web links are:

** HAF Appeal to Take Action On H.Res 417 - Stop Further Damage To U.S.-India Relations - Oppose H. Res. 417

** HAF Press Release about "Pro-Islamist Groups Hires Lobbyist To Push Resolution Slamming India"

** HAF Press Release about "New Report Exposes Controversial Links Of Radical Anti-India Coalition"

** HAF Responds To Allegations Leveled By Radical South Asian Activists -  Coalition Against Genocide issued a report about HAF, mostly looking at connections of me and others to "extremist" Hindu organizations.

H.Res 417 Hurts U.S. - India Relationship, says Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the First Hindu in Congress Sign Our Petition TODAY December 19, 2013  Namaste HAF Supporters,  We need YOU to Take Action Today. In two simple steps, you can send a personalized email directly to your Representative.    We are grateful to all the support you've shown HAF over the past three weeks. We thank those who have called their Representative because it's working. Here's one more thing YOU can do!   First, click here and then, fill in your information* so a letter will be sent directly to your Representative to let them know that H.Res 417 further damages U.S.-India relations and unfairly targets Hindus because:  1. H. Res 417 is misleading and selective in the violence it highlights. It implicates only the majority in India and omits the fact that 80% of attacks in 2012 alone were carried about by the Indian Mujahideen, with much of the remaining 20% carried out by Maoist terrorists.    2. H. Res 417 calls to empower religious minority courts to conduct trials and hear appeals. This suggestion undermines the secular Indian judicial system. Just as courts based on race and religion would be unthinkable in the United States, they are equally unworkable in India.    3. H. Res 417 ignores India's unprecedented religious accommodations for minorities, while criticizing Freedom of Religion or "anti-conversion" laws, which were created to protect poor and vulnerable populations from predatory efforts seeking religious conversion in exchange for educational, medical, and other humanitarian aid. India spends almost $200 million to subsidize the Hajj pilgrimage for Muslims, protects minority religious institutions from government intervention (while denying Hindu institutions the same privilege), and maintains generous affirmative action programs in most states for religious minorities.     4. Several Members of Congress have expressed their discontent with this resolution: Chairman Edward Royce of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs stated:  "H.Res. 417 weakens, rather than strengthens, the friendship between the United States and India. The resolution runs counter to all the hard work that the American people, particularly those in the Indian American community, have done to improve the relationship."    Ranking Member Eni Faleomavaega of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific noted:  "[H.Res. 417] does little to praise India or strengthen U.S.-India relations."    Representative Tulsi Gabbard, another member of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific and the first Hindu representative in Congress, said: "It is critically important that we focus on strengthening the ties between the two nations, and I do not believe that H.Res. 417 accomplishes this. Throughout history, India as a nation has been home to many religions, and has protected many as well, including Tibetan Buddhists, Jews, Christians, and Muslims."    Furthermore, Chairman Steve Chabot of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific withdrew his co-sponsorship of H.Res. 417 due to the concerns raised by Indian and Hindu Americans.    It takes less than a minute, but the impact will be strong! Take Action now by clicking here!   Thank you, The HAF Team *This service is free and sending a physical letter by USPS comes at an additional charge at your discretion.

[Bhuvan Govindasamy]

Dear Malini,

I cannot support HAF's campaign against HR-417. My reasons are as follows:

1. India did NOTHING to prevent nor help the Malaysian Indian situation. We have no news of Mahatma Uthayakumar, while his brother Waytha sits in a plush office. I've been desperately trying to get any news of our Mahatma, all I get is radio silence from all quarters. The Indian government continues to do business with Malaysia, enriching Najib & co, while the cries of our Mahatma & the Malaysia Indians falls on deaf ears.

2. When the cow-head incident happened in Malaysia, it was the Malaysian ambassador to the US who called in to answer for the situation. This was due to HAF's efforts for which all Malaysia Indians are grateful. The Indian government's silence was deafening.

3. India did NOTHING to prevent the appalling genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils. In fact, Rajiv Ghandi & the Congress government were wholly responsible in making the situation worse and costing many lives. Can one blame the attack on Rajiv when one sees how many families have been torn asunder due to Rajiv & the Indian impotency?

4. HAF's primary mandate is to educate, represent, engage & fight for Hindus in America & all over the world. Not get involved in the Indian politics, or US-Indian relations. If HAF insists on involving in Indian political matters, then have them change their name & mandate. I clearly remember Mihir telling me that he founded HAF to represent Hindus because Hindus to do even have a nation to back them, since India has declared herself secular. So why does HAF want to support India, when India does not support Hindus?

5. The Indian government employee cheated her servant of wages & committed who knows what kind of cruel acts on her. This employee has broken US law on US soil, and the Indian government is up in arms because US authorities went about their investigations using their Standard Operating Procedures? What about the servant? Has HAF championed the servant? Has the Indian government championed this servant, who is an Indian citizen? Or is it another typical example of the Indian government's shenanigans of protecting the powerful, not the downtrodden?

For these reasons, I cannot & will not support HAF's campaign.

Thx,

Bhuvan

  

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[Weng Lee]

Bhuvan,

ditto... and I concur with your suggestion of not supporting HAF fighting against H.RES417

We live in a complicated world.  Some wanted to build a nation out of religion, some wanted a nation out of race, and some wanted a nation out of convenience for the sake of tax avoidance.  Some merely got stuck together out of accident, and some out of necessity.  Behind each of those ideas is a strong desire to build a community that one thought one could benefit each other.  Some at the expense of others, while some not.  It's not cool that HAF stood up only for Hindus in India, as it fought against the case for some Indian Muslims in a foreign land (i.e. America), as it seeks the help of other foreigners (i.e. Malaysians) to oppose a proposition in another foreign land (i.e. America), all in the name of Hinduism.

Yet, after wearing quite a few identity hats, often in the wrong place, I realize perhaps... it is not so bad that we could give in to some of those ideas.  I could support HAF fighting against H.RES 417... very much because HAF has the duty to assert its' identify being an organization that stood for Hindus, not so much because I happen not to be a Muslim.

I am a Malaysian American Chinese Christian (please don't read too much into the order of how I placed those identities) currently working in Shanghai, and was working in the SF Bay Area.  All seems to have happened against what I thought how it would happen.  This include the case of being included in this group, as being one of the few non-Indian.  With those identity, I could choose to pick a fight against anyone within the group.  Or, at the same time, with some of those identities, I could also choose to be-friend and cherish every encounter with everyone within the group.  In either case, it seems to be an easy thing to do.  The hard part, and a part which I cherish most is when I found my heart truly got moved and when my brain  experience empathy for the angst and passion of an entirely foreign culture.  In the case for HAF fighting against H.RES417, I hear the loud cry of 'Hinduism weeps for India'.  Thus, the call to fight against H.RES417.

I was touched by Moorthy when he spoke to a few of us here in the Bay Area because of his cause.  I worried for him when he is not accepted by both political aisle.   I was disappointed when his decides to join Najib's cabinet.  Yet, ultimately, I still felt for Moorthy as I think I could empathize for the cause that led Moorthy to his decision.  Moorthy merely had to decide to give up his own identity, and chose to continue fighting for a thankless crowd, because he loves his brethren, very much in the same way all Indians in Malaysia are slaving away for a few elite Malay ruling class.  That being said,  Uthaya too loves his brethren so much that he has to give up his freedom and his own brother.

In the case for HAF, and Indian Muslims, both loved their brethren.  Just hope both would get to love each other as much as Mahatma Gandhi loved Hindus and Muslims ....  (speaking of which.. sure wished Gandhi loved Christ also.. as much as I know Christ loves Gandhi).

Back to Malaysia.. what can we do in 2014 for the same unrepresented Indians/Hindus in Malaysia that Hindraf used to stood up for, as that was the original cause this group was formed, right?

Weng

sigh.. I met so many Malaysian Chinese here in Shanghai who still love Malaysia, although the nation doesn't seem to love them :(

what can we do ourselves for our childhood nation!??!!!  ShanghaiForChangeInKL? ... :P