87R21036 TBO-D     By: Reynolds H.R. No. 1330       R E S O L U T I O N          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.