I am writing as your constituent and as a supporter of Hindus for Human Rights, a 501(c) US-based nonprofit advocating for pluralism, civil rights, and human rights in South Asia and North America.

I am calling on you to publicly condemn increasing calls for genocide against the Muslim minority population in India, a close strategic partner of the United States.

Just a few days ago (Dec. 17-19, 2021), Hindu extremist leaders organized a Dharma Sansad ("Religious Parliament") in the city of Haridwar. Notably, politicians from India's ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, were in attendance. Videos and reporting from the event revealed that many of the Hindu leaders present issued explicit calls for genocide against Muslims:

• "Like in Myanmar, the police here, the politicians here, the army and every Hindu must pick up weapons and we will have to conduct this cleanliness drive (safai abhiyan). There is no solution apart from this.” - Swami Prabodhananda Giri, president, Hindu Raksha Sena
• “Nothing is possible without weapons. If you want to eliminate their population then kill them. Be ready to kill and be ready to go to jail. Even if 100 of us are ready to kill 200,000 of them (Muslims), then we will be victorious, and go to jail." - Sadhvi Annapurna, General Secretary, Hindu Mahasabha; Mahamandaleshwar, Niranjani Akhara
• "If the governments do not listen to our demand (for a Hindu state), we will wage a war far scarier than the 1857 revolt." - Swami Anand Swaroop Maharaj

We need our elected officials to take action.

1. Please issue a Tweet and/or statement condemning these calls for genocide in India: "I am deeply disturbed by calls for genocide against Indian Muslims made at the Dharma Sansad in Haridwar from Dec. 17-19. As a close strategic partner of the U.S. and as a secular democracy, such calls for violence are unacceptable. The Indian government must take action."
2. Call on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn the genocidal and anti-Muslim statements made in the presence of officials from India's ruling party.
3. Call on U.S. Senate members to Advance the Combating International Islamophobia Act by establishing a special envoy office at the U.S. State Department to monitor and combat international Islamophobia.

In 1998, four years after the Rwandan genocide, U.S. President Bill Clinton declared his greatest regret, that "All over the world there were people like me sitting in offices ... who did not fully appreciate the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror."

We can't repeat the mistakes of the past. Surveys show that the majority of Indian-Americans believe that Hindu nationalism poses a serious threat to India. We hope you will speak out before it is too late.