We, the undersigned organizations
and individuals, united under the banner of The
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate, are writing
to inform you that the India Development and
Relief Fund (IDRF), which uses your services
to raise money for its activities, is deeply involved
in the propagation of sectarian hate and violence
in India. We believe that the money that IDRF collects
and generates through your organization has been used
to fund an intolerant and violent Hindu Supremacist
movement (Hindutva) that undermines the constitutionally
guaranteed rights of minorities in India to equal
citizenship and a life free of persecution.
We are a group of
concerned individuals committed to stop the flow of
hate money into India. We are committed to an India
that is open, tolerant and democratic, and we wish to
ensure that groups that victimize minority communities
in India do not misuse the donation policies of U.S.
businesses.
We believe that IDRF misleads
well-meaning individual donors and institutions into
funding organizations that foster ethnic hatred. We
are deeply disturbed at the support IDRF receives
from your institution and urge you to terminate this
relationship.
Our conclusions regarding the
Hindutva movement, and IDRF's close links to
it are drawn from a recently released report 'The
Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American Funding
of Hindutva.' We submit the following summary
of our concerns in order to provide you the information
you need to make a decision:
a. Hindutva is a violent,
sectarian movement based upon the premise of Hindu
supremacy. Its core ideological organization,
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National
Volunteers Corps, abbreviated as the RSS), was
started in 1925 and has drawn its inspiration
and structure from both Nazi Germany and Fascist
Italy (see Sections 2.1,
2.2
and Appendix
A of the attached report).
b. The RSS functions through
a network of organizations and fronts that are
together called the Sangh Parivar (the
Sangh Family). The Sangh Parivar operates
both in India and abroad, particularly in the
U.S. and the U.K. (see Sections 2.3,
2.4
and 2.5
of the report).
c. The Hindutva movement
relies upon deliberate and systematic use of violence
to consolidate its power base and to fracture
the society along religious lines. It was responsible
for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle
of non-violence. Since then, Hindutva groups
have continually incited hate and communal violence
in India. Over the last decade, they have killed
more than 5000 people, belonging primarily to
religious minorities. In recent years they have
carried out a campaign of murder and intimidation
against the Christian community in India (1999-2000)
and orchestrated the mass murder of more than
2000 people, mostly Muslims, in the Indian state
of Gujarat (February to August 2002). Many national
and international human rights commissions and
groups have charged the Hindutva movement
with carrying out systematic pogroms and hate
campaigns (see Section 2.6
of the report).
2. IDRF's Links to Hindutva:
a. An examination of the institutional
links and the overlap of personnel between IDRF
and the Sangh Parivar lead us to believe
that IDRF serves as a major conduit for the flow
of funds from the U.S. to the Hindutva
movement in India (see Section 3
of the report).
b. IDRF has publicly claimed
that it has no connection to Hindutva or
the Sangh Parivar in India. Yet, a study
of its records shows that it has consistently
supported organizations aligned with the Hindutva
movement, channeling over 80% of all funds at
its discretion to them (see Section 4.1
of the report).
c. Despite its name, the India
Development and Relief Fund does little on
issues of development in India; instead, it primarily
funds activities and organizations that support
sectarian divisions and hatred. Only a fifth of
the funds IDRF sends to India go for disaster
relief and welfare activities, and there is documentation
to support that the disbursement of even these
amounts is sectarian (see Sections 4.2
and 4.3
of the report).
d. Several so-called "sister
organizations" of IDRF in India which have
received large amounts of money from the IDRF
have been linked to violence against minorities.
Prominent among these is Sewa Bharati,
an organization that has had its license cancelled
in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh for attempting
to ignite sectarian violence. Vanavasi Kalyan
Ashram, another organization directly funded
by IDRF, has also been linked to violence in tribal
areas (see Section 4.4
of the report).
Given the above, we urge you to
close the IDRF account until IDRF can demonstrate
that it has severed all connections with the Hindutva
movement. Such action on your part will send the message
that your organization will not associate itself with
hate crimes or religious extremism.
We are hopeful that you will join
us in our commitment to a life free from persecution
for all peoples of the world.
Sincerely,
The
Undersigned
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