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May 2, 2000 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 6427 health professionals—the 2 million+ registered In Haryana on April 22, three nuns were at- states like Uttar Pradesh where there have nurses in the United States. tacked by a Hindu fundamentalist. One, Sister been three violent attacks against Christians These outstanding men and women, who Anandi, remains in Holy Family Hospital in se- in the last two weeks. work hard to save lives and maintain the rious condition. No one has been arrested for Madhavrao Scindia, deputy leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha (the lower health of millions of individuals, will celebrate this crime. house of Parliament), said the government National Nurses Week from May 6–12, 2000. The militant Hindu fundamentalists who car- should put a stop to incidents like those re- Registered nurses will be honored by hosting ried out these acts are allies of the Indian gov- ported in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana this or participating in several events such as ral- ernment. The government itself has killed over month. He demanded a response from Home lies, childhood immunizations, community 200,000 Christians in Nagaland, over a quar- Affairs Minister Lal Kishen Advani, who is health screenings, publicity efforts, dinners, re- ter of a million Sikhs, more than 65,000 Kash- considered a friend of most of India’s Hindu ceptions and hospital events. I believe that miri Muslims since 1988, and tens of thou- nationlist groups and is the second most any American who has ever been cared for by sands of others. It holds tens of thousands of powerful man in India after Vajpayee. ‘‘Groups close to the BJP must be reined in a nurse should join in the celebration of Na- political prisoners without charge or trial. as they are vitiating communal peace,’’ tional Nurses Week. Some of them have been held for over 15 Scindia said. Modern nursing has been traced to Florence years. This is unacceptable. Opposition Samajwadi party leader Nightingale’s efforts during the Crimean War America is the bastion of freedom in the Mulayam Singh Yadav, who once headed the of the mid-19th century. Exactly 100 years world. It is our responsibility to do what we defense ministry, said that militant Hindu after Nightingale’s methods were first used, can to ensure freedom for all people. We groups pose a greater danger than the ac- National Nurses Week was first observed from should cut off India’s aid until it learns to re- tions of religious minorities. ‘‘Majority com- October 11–16, 1954. National Nurses Day spect human rights. The government must munalism poses a greater danger compared stop killing religious and ethnic minorities. It to minority communalism,’’ he said. Mem- and Week was eventually moved to May to in- bers of the Hindu group Shiv Sena tried to clude Florence Nightingale’s birthday, which is must also punish strongly those who kill and heckle him while he addressed members of May 12th. do other acts of violence in the government’s Parliament. Using this year’s theme: ‘‘Nurses—Keeping behalf. Amnesty International, which has not During a two-day BJP national executive the Care in Health Care,’’ the American been allowed to enter India to investigate meeting in the Uttar Pradesh town of Nurses Association (ANA) and its 53 con- human rights abuses since 1978, must be al- Lucknow, Vajpayee chastised Uttar Pradesh stituent associations will highlight the diverse lowed to come into the country. Until then, no Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta over his ways in which registered nurses, the largest American money should go to India. state’s handling of attacks on Christian mis- health care profession, are working to improve We should also put this Congress on record sionaries in Mathura. Vajpayee reportedly said the state should have dispatched police health care for Americans. Thankfully, the ef- in support of democracy in South Asia by call- to assess the situation and instill confidence forts of nurses are being widely acknowl- ing for a free and fair plebiscite, under inter- among the Christian community. He also edged. According to the Gallup Poll’s 1999 national supervision, to decide the political fu- asked the state government to explain its ‘‘Honesty and Ethics’’ survey, nursing ranked ture of Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and all position on the controversial religious places #1 of 45 among the most respected profes- the other nations occupied by India. These bill, which prohibits Muslims from building sions. steps are the best way to bring freedom to all mosques or converting an existing building Mr. Speaker, I will salute America’s nurses the people of South Asia. into a mosque without government permis- during the week of May 6–12, 2000. I encour- Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit the sion. Bajrang Dal national coordinator Surendra Newsroom article into the RECORD. I urge my age my colleagues to do the same. Kumar Jain said last month that his group f colleagues to read it. was fighting to construct a temple for Ram BAJRANG DAL BAN SOUGHT AFTER PRE- in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The extremist END RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN EASTER ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS IN INDIA group also once demanded that the federal INDIA NEW DELHI, 25 April 2000 (Newsroom)—Al- government declare Pakistan an enemy lies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), state. HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS which leads India’s coalition government, Referring to the attacks against Chris- tians, Jain said that ‘‘missionaries consider OF NEW YORK this week demanded that the BJP ban a mili- tant group of Hindu nationalists and dismiss Hindus a soft target. Even the words ‘soft IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh state government target’ were used in the missionary lit- Tuesday, May 2, 2000 in the wake of recent attacks against Chris- erature. However, now the Hindus have tians. woken up. We are no more a soft target for Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, the persecution The call by the Trinamool Congress, an their unholy activities. We appreciate mis- of Christians and other religious minorities in ally in the BJP-led National Democratic Al- sionary services, but only when the object is India continues. Now even an ally of the ruling liance headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari service and not conversion.’’ party has spoken out against it. Vajpayee, to ban the Bajrang Dal and dis- Monday’s confrontation in parliament fol- Newsroom, a website devoted to religious miss Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram lowed three attacks against Christians in news, reported that the Trinamool Congress, a Prakash Gupta and his government stunned Uttar Pradesh in the last two weeks. Mem- party in coalition with the ruling BJP, de- BJP leaders. bers of the House of Worship, one of India’s fastest-growing church groups headquartered manded the banning of Bajrang Dal, a militant Leaders from the Trinamool Congress and from the opposition Congress and Samajwadi in the southern state of Hyderabad, were at- Hindu nationalist organization. The Bajrang parties blasted the BJP for failing to control tacked by suspected Bajrang Dal activists on Dal is affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu the Hindu nationalist group that many the outskirts of Agra, site of the Taj Mahal, Parishad (VHP), which in turn is part of the blame for the spate of violent incidents di- police said. The Good Friday attack on the RSS, a Fascist organization that is the parent rected toward religious minorities in the last 14-member preaching team from Hyderabad organization of the BJP. two years. in the BJP-ruled state came a week after a Dara Singh, the person India has arrested in The Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu organi- Catholic priest and three nuns were attacked connection with the murder of missionary zation affilated with the Vishwa Hindu in a school. It was the seventh attack re- Parishad (World Hindu Council) and linked ported in the state in less than 100 days. Graham Staines and his two young sons, has to several attacks on Christians, believes it The Bajrang Dal complained to state po- been linked to the Bajrang Dal. Christians has a duty to promote the Hindu religion and lice that the Hyderabad group was trying to have been subjected to three attacks in Uttar Hindutva—Hinduness—in India. Dara Singh, convert villagers by offering them money, a Pradesh in two weeks. On Good Friday, mem- who is accused of masterminding the mur- charge church authorities deny. In a counter bers of the Bajrang Dal attacked members of ders of Australian missionary Graham complaint the victims reported that a mob of the House of Worship, a Christian church in Staines and his two sons last year, has been 20 to 30 people attacked the van in which Agra. Uttar Pradesh also has a law prohibiting linked to the Bajrang Dal, although the they were traveling and tried to burn the ve- Muslims from building new mosques or con- group denies he is a member. hicle. The group returned to Hyderabad Sudip Bandopadhyay of the Trinamul Con- where the main church, Hebron Church, is verting any building into a mosque without gress and Yerram Naidu, Tulugu Desam located. The church, also known as the In- government permission. In the state of Orissa, party leader, demanded that security be pro- digenous Society of Churches in India, is one religious conversions are banned without gov- vided to Christians and other religious mi- of the fastest growing in the country with ernment permission. norities wherever possible, especially in mainly new converts as members. It was VerDate jul 14 2003 12:55 Aug 24, 2004 Jkt 029102 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 0689 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR00\E02MY0.000 E02MY0 6428 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS May 2, 2000 founded by a Punjabi Sikh agricultural engi- H.R.

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