New Delhi: United States Democrat Andy Levin has said that India is facing the danger of becoming a Hindu nationalist state rather than a secular democracy, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
“I am a lover of Hinduism, a lover of Jainism, Buddhism and other religions that were born in India, but we need to protect the rights of all people there,” Levine said. “Whether they’re Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Jains.”
India is in danger of becoming a Hindu nationalist, the Democrat made the statement during his last speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives.
Levine has frequently spoken about Kashmir and the plight of Muslims under the Bharatiya Janata Party regime.
During a special Congressional briefing titled “India’s Brutal Persecution of Kashmir”, organised by multiple human rights groups on April 20, Levin had called for international attention on the Kashmir dispute, PTI reported.
“While Kashmir may not be in the nightly news, what’s happening there deserves the world’s attention, and it’s still a prime example of how Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi is taking India in the wrong direction in terms of human rights and democracy,” Levin alleged.
In 2019, while writing on his Medium blog, he had talked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach towards Muslims.
“After all, in 2005, the [George W] Bush administration denied Modi entry into the United States on account of his failure, as chief minister of the state of Gujarat, to intervene during a 2002 outbreak of horrific violence against Muslims,” he wrote.
In his blog, he had also noted that when Modi revoked Article 370 which granted Kashmir its autonomy, he blocked the internet and telecommunications. He said this was a proof of imprisonment and violence.
“The United States must make clear that these actions are not befitting of the world’s largest democracy – not only because it is the right thing to do but because, if we don’t, what will we allow to happen next?” he had written.
During another Congressional briefing organised by Indian-American Muslim Council last year, Levin had expressed concern about religious freedom in India, PTI reported.
India is in danger of becoming a Hindu nationalist. “The India of [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi is not the India I fell in love with,” he had said. “Why would I be so critical and so publicly critical of a country that I love? The answer is it is because I love India that I am committed to ending these attacks on its people.”
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