Bill Text: TX HR1330 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Condemning rising ethno-nationalism and the suppression of democratic principles in India.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-19 - Referred to State Affairs [HR1330 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HR1330-Introduced.html
| 87R21036 TBO-D | ||
| By: Reynolds | H.R. No. 1330 | |
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| WHEREAS, The State of Texas supports the protection of human | ||
| rights, democratic principles, and equal justice for all people, | ||
| and opposes all discrimination, including discrimination based on | ||
| religion and ethno-nationalism; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The nation of India was founded as a secular | ||
| republic in which members of all regional cultures, castes, | ||
| linguistic groups, and religious faiths are welcome, and India and | ||
| the United States share common values of democracy, the rule of law, | ||
| and the protection of human rights and liberty; however, the ruling | ||
| Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of India's prime minister, | ||
| Narendra Modi, has promoted the suppression of free press, the | ||
| silencing of political dissent, governance through increasingly | ||
| divisive policies, and overt discrimination and violence against | ||
| religious minorities; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In 2002, Narendra Modi was chief minister of the | ||
| Indian state of Gujarat, and he failed to quell the monthslong | ||
| lynching of more than 1,000 Muslims, mass rapes of Muslim women, and | ||
| the destruction of 20,000 Muslim-owned homes and businesses as well | ||
| as 360 Muslim places of worship; his complicity and involvement in | ||
| the 2002 Gujarat pogrom prompted the U.S. State Department to deny | ||
| him entry into the United States from 2005 until his election as | ||
| India's prime minister in 2014; and | ||
| WHEREAS, On August 5, 2019, the BJP-led government revoked | ||
| Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted special | ||
| semiautonomous status to the former Indian state of Jammu and | ||
| Kashmir, which was the only Muslim-majority state in the nation; in | ||
| revoking the article, the government implemented mass detentions | ||
| and imposed wide-ranging restrictions on communications and press | ||
| freedoms; and | ||
| WHEREAS, On December 11, 2019, the Indian government passed | ||
| the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA); under the guise of helping | ||
| refugees fleeing religious persecution from neighboring countries, | ||
| the act blatantly discriminates against Muslim Indians by favoring | ||
| Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian immigrants, while | ||
| specifically excluding Muslim people; the CAA is the first instance | ||
| of religion being used as a criterion for Indian citizenship in the | ||
| history of the nation; and | ||
| WHEREAS, BJP president Amit Shah has expressed support for | ||
| the nationwide expansion of the National Register of Citizens | ||
| (NRC); however, many Indians lack documentation to prove | ||
| citizenship, such as birth certificates, and the NRC expansion | ||
| could strip hundreds of millions of people of their citizenship | ||
| with no option to be re-naturalized; this would disproportionately | ||
| affect Muslims, oppressed castes, women, and indigenous | ||
| communities; in addition, when combined with an expansion of the | ||
| NRC, the CAA will allow for the disenfranchisement of India's | ||
| largest religious minority community and create a situation where | ||
| individuals could be deprived of citizenship if they are a Muslim | ||
| without documents; in 2019, India's government began building vast | ||
| detention camps to house individuals who are unable to provide | ||
| documentation of citizenship and who are unable to apply for | ||
| refugee status or asylum under CAA; and | ||
| WHEREAS, From 2019 through 2021, public protests in India | ||
| against CAA, NRC, and anti-farmer legislation have been met by | ||
| consistent and indiscriminate governmental repression, including | ||
| the firing of live ammunition at demonstrators, mass arrests, and | ||
| the imposition of restrictions on telecommunications and free | ||
| press; in 2021, several Indian states ruled by the BJP passed laws | ||
| to regulate religious conversions, making interreligious marriages | ||
| between Muslim men and Hindu women punishable by imprisonment if | ||
| the government determines that the marriage involved a fraudulent | ||
| conversion; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In September 2019, a "Howdy, Modi!" rally was held | ||
| in Houston, featuring Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, in what | ||
| the Washington Post ominously reported was "the largest-ever | ||
| gathering with a foreign political leader in the United States," | ||
| demonstrating the growing threat of the BJP's influence around the | ||
| world; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In its 2020 report, the U.S. Commission on | ||
| International Religious Freedom recommended that India be | ||
| designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC), stating that | ||
| the country is "engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and | ||
| egregious religious freedom violations"; in September 2020, | ||
| Amnesty International halted all work in India due to the | ||
| "heavy-handed tactics that Indian civil society has become | ||
| increasingly familiar with--part of the government's drive to | ||
| silence critical voices and stoke a climate of fear"; in its 2020 | ||
| Democracy Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit decreased India's | ||
| global ranking, citing "democratic backsliding" by authorities and | ||
| "crackdowns" on civil liberties as well as stating that the | ||
| Narendra Modi-led government had "introduced a religious element to | ||
| the conceptualization of Indian citizenship, a step that many | ||
| critics see as undermining the secular basis of the Indian state"; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, In its 2021 World Report, Human Rights Watch stated | ||
| that "the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government increasingly | ||
| harassed, arrested, and prosecuted rights defenders, activists, | ||
| journalists, students, academics, and others critical of the | ||
| government or its policies . . . [a]ttacks continued against | ||
| minorities, especially Muslims, even as authorities failed to take | ||
| action against BJP leaders who vilified Muslims and BJP supporters | ||
| who engaged in violence"; in its 2021 Freedom in the World Report, | ||
| Freedom House downgraded India from "Free" to a "Partly Free" | ||
| country, finding that "harassment of journalists and other | ||
| government critics has increased under Prime Minister Narendra Modi | ||
| and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as have | ||
| religiously motivated attacks against non-Hindus"; and | ||
| WHEREAS, All people deserve to live without fear or | ||
| intimidation in practice of their faith, and it is important to join | ||
| in the outcry against the anti-Muslim actions of the BJP-led | ||
| government in India; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas | ||
| Legislature hereby condemn rising ethno-nationalism and the | ||
| suppression of democratic principles in India; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas House of Representatives express | ||
| solidarity with the Indian-American community regardless of | ||
| religious, linguistic, and cultural identification, and affirm | ||
| support for the protection of human rights, democratic principles, | ||
| and equal justice for all people in Texas and beyond. | ||
