SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2237nated, but many of its members are ambivalent about this. Most BJP leaders alsoare RSS members. The BJP’s traditional cultural agenda includes calls for constructionof a new Hindu temple to replace an ancient Hindu temple that was believedto have stood on the site of a mosque in Ayodhya that a Hindu mob destroyed in1992; for the repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants special rightsto the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim majority state; andfor the enactment of a uniform civil code that would apply to members of all religions.In mid-October, the RSS held a 3-day rally in Agra, which more than 75,000Hindus reportedly attended. Speaking at the rally, RSS chief K.S. Sudarshansparked controversy when he called for banning foreign churches and creating a nationalChristian Church based on the Chinese model. Sudarshan reportedly also encouragedChristian citizens to free themselves from the strong influence of foreigncountries by setting up Indian nationalistic churches. Of particular concern for minoritygroups was Home Minister L.K. Advani’s highly publicized participation atthe Agra rally and vocal support of the RSS on his return to New Delhi. All of theseproposals are opposed strongly by some minority religious groups. The BJP-led nationalGovernment took no steps to implement these controversial measures and haspromised that it would not do so during its tenure.Human rights groups and others have suggested that the response by authoritiesin these states to acts of violence against religious minorities by Hindu extremistgroups has been ineffective, at least in part because of the links between thesegroups and the BJP, and have noted that the ineffective investigation and prosecutionof such incidents may encourage violent actions by extremist groups. SomeChrisian groups also claim that BJP officials at state and local levels have becomeincreasingly uncooperative. The Government also has been criticized for not attemptingto restrain the country’s radical Hindu groups.The degree to which the BJP’s nationalist Hindu agenda is felt throughout thecountry with respect to religious minorities varies depending on the region. In somestates, governments took pains to reaffirm their commitment to secularism. In others,mainly in the south, religious groups allege that since the BJP’s rise to powerin the national Government, some government bureaucrats have begun to enforcelaws selectively to the detriment of religious minorities. The situation in the eastvaried. For example, the Orissa government in November 1999 notified churchesthat religious conversions could not occur without notification of the local police anddistrict magistrate. The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act of 1967 contains a provisionrequiring a monthly government report on the number of conversions, but this provisionpreviously had not been enforced. After a conversion has been reported to theDistrict Magistrate, the report is forwarded to the authorities and a local police officerconducts an inquiry. The police officer may recommend in favor of or againstsuch intended conversion, often as the sole arbitrator on the individual’s right tofreedom of religion; if conversion is judged to have occurred without permission orwith coercion, the authorities may take penal action. In Tripura there were reportsof attacks on non-Christians by Christians.No registration is required for religions. Legally mandated benefits are assignedto certain groups, including some groups defined by their religion.There are many religions and a large variety of denominations, groups, and subgroupsin the country, but Hinduism is the dominant religion. According to 1999statistics (based on the 1991 census), Hindus constitute 82.4 percent of the population,Muslims 12.7 percent, Christians 2.3 percent, Sikhs 2.0 percent, Buddhists0.7 percent, Jains 0.4 percent, and others, including Parsis, Jews, and Baha’is, 0.4percent.The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act makes it a criminal offenseto use any religious site for political purposes or to use temples for harboring personsaccused or convicted of crimes. While specifically designed to deal with Sikhplaces of worship in Punjab, the law applies to all religious sites. The state of UttarPradesh passed the Religious Buildings and Places Act during the state assemblybudget session of March-May. The act requires a state government-endorsed permitbefore construction of any religious building may commence in the state. During theyear, West Bengal’s government implemented 15year-old legislation that requiresany person desiring to construct a place of worship to seek permission from the districtmagistrate; any person intending to convert a personal place of worship to onefor the community must obtain the district magistrate’s permission.The current legal system accommodates minority religions’ personal status laws;there are different personal laws for different religious communities. Religion-specificlaws pertain in matters of marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance. For example,Muslim personal status law governs many noncriminal matters involvingMuslims, including family law, inheritance, and divorce. The personal status lawsof the religious communities sometimes discriminate against women. Under IslamicVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:46 Sep 20, 2001 Jkt 071555 PO 00000 Frm 00081 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\COUNTRYR\S71555\71555.035 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1