\n<\/p>\n
For nine days, Pieter Friedrich starved himself to get his congressman\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
Drawing from his own Christian tradition of prayer and fasting and the Indian political tactic of satyagraha<\/em>, the activist and journalist fasted from July 27 until August 5, aiming to convince US Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, to speak on the House floor about violence against Christians.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has not just a political responsibility, but a human responsibility to raise these issues,\u201d said Friedrich, after he had abandoned his strike at the request of two Indian organizations. \u201cI believe the only way he continues to refuse doing so is because he\u2019s continuing to straddle the fence.\u201d<\/p>\n The Christians whose plight Friedrich was demanding Khanna take responsibility for, however, were not Californians, but Indians living more than 7,000 miles away in Manipur. The fence he was accusing an American congressman of straddling was US policy toward Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and his troubling history of Hindu nationalism.<\/p>\n From President Joe Biden to Indian American congressmembers like Khanna, American politicians are under increasing pressure to account for their courtship of Modi, the leader of a strategically important ally and the world\u2019s largest democracy, while ignoring the Indian regime\u2019s oppression of religious minorities.<\/p>\n Modi\u2019s recent visit to Washington\u2014where he met with President Biden, attended a state dinner, and addressed Congress\u2014fully rehabilitated a figure who was refused a visa by the US State Department in 2015. At the time, Modi, then chief minister of the state of Gujarat, held a precarious position on the international stage after more than 900 of his constituents, mostly Muslims, died in religious riots<\/a>. Since being elected prime minister in 2014, his record has improved, but marginalization of minority groups has continued.<\/p>\n In its 2023 annual report<\/a>, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom cited India for its \u201csystematic, egregious, and ongoing violations of religious freedom.\u201d Open Doors ranked<\/a> India No. 11 on its 2023 World Watch List and No. 4 on its countries where Christians face the most violence.<\/p>\n In May of this year in northern India, violence erupted<\/a> in the Imphal Valley of Manipur after members of the mostly-Christian Kuki tribe protested a court order extending benefits to the Meiteis, an ethnic group many Kukis believe the government already favors. After the protest, Kuki were subjected to egregious violence and sexual crimes by Meitei mobs.<\/p>\n During Modi\u2019s June visit to Washington, DC, Indian Americans, along with leaders of civil rights and interfaith movements, gathered in front of the White House to protest these attacks as well as the Indian government\u2019s increased restrictions on the press and civil society.<\/p>\n \u201cPrime Minister Narendra Modi has been silent. \u2026 This is ethnic cleansing, pure and simple,\u201d said<\/a> Lien Gangte, a leader with the North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA). \u201cWe call on every concerned individual to exercise their democratic rights by urging their elected representatives in the US [to] provide humanitarian aid and security.\u201d<\/p>\n That same week, former US president Barak Obama warned<\/a> the politician he once called his \u201cfriend<\/a>\u201d that if the government did not \u201cprotect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, then there is a strong possibility India at some point starts pulling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n Concurrently, in a letter to Biden<\/a>, Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, along with 73 congressional colleagues, called on him to address the imperative of safeguarding human rights and democratic principles in India during his forthcoming meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cA series of independent, credible reports reflect troubling signs in India toward the shrinking of political space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society organizations and journalists, and growing restrictions on press freedoms and internet access,\u201d the letter<\/a> stated.<\/p>\n Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren also signed the letter, though American politicians of Indian descent, notably Reps. Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Shri Thanedar, and Ro Khanna, refrained from endorsing it.<\/p>\n In July, a video of a mob parading and sexually assaulting two naked Kuki women during the atrocities from early May went viral on social media. Enraging those inside and outside of India, many slammed law enforcement agencies<\/a> for failing to make a single arrest until after the footage ended up online.<\/p>\n Shortly after the video\u2019s release, Indian American and Indian expats took to the streets in cities in Texas, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Michigan. More than 700<\/a> Indian Christians rallied in front<\/a> of the United Nations headquarters in New York City to pray for peace and justice in Manipur. Protests have also been organized in Canada, Germany, and the UK.<\/p>\n Friedrich, a human rights advocate whose Twitter account has been banned twice in India for putting pressure on the Modi regime, has also urged American politicians of Indian heritage to speak out against rights violations in India.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been called to be doing what I\u2019m doing,\u201d said Friedrich in an interview with Religion News Service. \u201cThese are people from my community, and I believe in the teaching that we are all one body in Christ. And whatever does harm to that body does harm to the whole.\u201d<\/p>\n On July 30, midway through his hunger strike, Friedrich attended a Khanna town hall to confront him. A Kuki Christian woman also spoke about her family, who have been victims of the violent clashes.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that there should be absolutely no violence against any place of worship,\u201d Khanna told the town hall audience. \u201cI will be co-leading a bipartisan delegation in coordination with the State Department that will build on President Biden\u2019s relationship with India, which is critical to American foreign policy interests.\u201d<\/p>\n As the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans (CCIIA), Khanna has been working on US-India relations since his election in 2017. He has condemned Hindu nationalism, which many accuse Modi\u2019s government of promoting, but in June, Khanna invited Modi to address the India caucus. Modi\u2019s opponents say the invitation was a public affirmation. Khanna\u2019s tepid official response to the violence in Manipur was considered another strike against him.<\/p>\n Khanna, a Hindu himself, has spoken out against Hindutva, the ideology of Narendra Modi and his party, as recently as 2019.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, his comments earned the ire<\/a> of right-wing Indian Americans who staged a protest accusing him of betraying his culture and identity and calling him \u201cHinduphobic.\u201d Since then, he appears to have moderated his public position.<\/p>\n Currently, Khanna is in India with his CCIIA co-chair Michael Waltz, as they lead a bipartisan congressional delegation as part of India\u2019s 77th Independence Day. The delegation was present<\/a> during Modi\u2019s national address at the historic Red Fort on August 15.<\/p>\n Kanna has shared photos on social media of meeting and rubbing shoulders with prominent Hindu right-wing voices like actor Anupam Kher<\/a> and activist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe American public is largely unaware of what\u2019s happening to Christians in India. Most people still find it hard to imagine Hindu nationalism as violent ideology. Most people have these benign images of Hinduism as practiced by Gandhi and others. Most people think of yoga or vegetarianism when they hear the word \u2018Hindu,\u2019\u201d John Prabhudoss, of the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA), told CT.<\/p>\n \u201cThis image is working against our efforts to make people understand the threat the church is facing in India.\u201d<\/p>\n One week before this trip, Hindus for Human Rights (HHR), along with the Indian American Muslim Council and India Civil Watch International, met with Khanna to discuss their concerns, especially regarding the role of Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party \u201cin eroding democracy and rights.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, Khanna \u201cexpressed his unwavering commitment to upholding democratic values and human rights both within India and the United States,\u201d according to a HHR press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people in DC have made this calculation that for the sake of a deeper US-India relationship, they need to be nice to Prime Minister Modi,\u201d said Ria Chakrabarty, HRR\u2019s policy director.<\/p>\n Since becoming prime minister in 2014, Modi has made six trips to the United States. His engagements included speaking at Madison Square Garden and participating in a joint rally alongside then\u2013US president Donald Trump in Houston. The recent state dinner and congressional address further reinforce the perception that Modi has not only experienced a rehabilitation but has been warmly embraced.<\/p>\n But questions have been raised in the United States on whether India is getting a \u201cfree pass<\/a>\u201d on human rights. These concerns arise from the praises<\/a> of Indian democracy by Secretary of State Blinken as well as from Trump\u2019s previous endorsement of Modi on his record of religious freedom, even as communal riots<\/a> in Delhi were breaking out and leading to the deaths of many, the majority Muslims.<\/p>\n Indian government\u2019s continued human rights violations and mistreatment of religious minorities have not kept other American politicians from aligning with Modi and his policies due to its growing significance as a counterbalance to China and its emergence as a major trading partner, particularly in the defense sector.<\/p>\n India plays a substantial role in America\u2019s strategy of diversifying from China\u2014enough that, concurrently with Modi\u2019s address to Congress, lawmakers including Khanna introduced a resolution aiming to expedite<\/a> arms sales to India.<\/p>\n From 2022 to 2023, the trade relationship between the two nations has increased exponentially from $63.7 billion to $128.55 billion. The US has now emerged as India\u2019s biggest trading partner.<\/p>\n \u201cMost US politicians are dead silent on the persecution of Indian Muslims and Christians. It\u2019s not because they don\u2019t know about it,\u201d Friedrich told CT.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Biden administration and most of Congress are stuck on this theory that India can serve as a geopolitical balance against communist China\u2019s expanding global influence, but they refuse to see the forest for the trees,\u201d he said. \u201cA Hindu nationalist regime which turns India into a fascist state that slaughters its own citizens is incapable of being a reliable partner in such a geopolitical scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, at least three Indian Americans\u2014all from the Republican party\u2014have announced their bid for the presidential elections: Nikki Haley, Hirsh Vardhan Singh, and Vivek Ramaswamy. While Haley professes a Christian faith, Singh and Ramaswamy are Hindu, with Ramaswamy facing criticism<\/a> of being a Modi admirer.<\/p>\n In addition, Indian Americans with ties to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organization that birthed the BJP, have been increasingly running<\/a> for office as Republicans and Democrats at state and national levels. Other prominent political names in the US who have been accused of close ties<\/a> to organizations affiliated with the RSS are Tulsi Gabbard and Brad Sherman.<\/p>\n