What can we do about Senator Tammy Baldwin’s anti-India Resolution?
By Dr. Richard L. Benkin
On November 19, 2023, I published an article in the Indo US Tribune about the anti-India resolution introduced in the US Senate by junior Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. This article is about its movement since then and what we can do about it and to stop the casual acceptance of slurs and inaccuracies about India.
Junior Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin does not fit the profile of a bigot. As the country’s first LGBTQ senator, she has had to face bigotry more than being one herself. Regardless, that does not excuse her belief that allegations of Indian persecution of minorities—and in particular that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘Hindu nationalist’ government seeks to relegate non-Hindus to a second class status—without vetting alleged incidents that appear to support that; contributes mightily to the demonization of Hindus and India, much in the same way that many of her same supporters demonize Israel and the Jewish people based on their ideological assumptions. That India and Narendra Modi are ‘bad’ has become an article of faith among both the hard and soft left, facts be damned. This makes Baldwin an enabler of bigotry, in general, and of anti-India, anti-Hindu bigotry specifically.
Last October, she introduced Senate Resolution 424, ‘A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States Government engage the Government of India to seek a swift end to the persecution of, and violence against, religious minorities and human rights defenders in India and a reversal of government policies that discriminate against Muslims and Christians on the basis of their respective faiths.’ Unlike Senator Baldwin and many of her informants, and no doubt like many of this paper’s readers, I have spent a good deal of time in India; under both the current BJP government and the previous, Congress-led one. Unlike Baldwin, I do not have to rely on unvetted third-party accusations and believe I can offer her an informed perspective. For instance, the resolution cites allegations by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), but fails to consider that the US State Department, regardless of the party in power, has never adopted USCIRF’s recommendations or allegations against India. The resolution mischaracterizes India’s Citizenship Amendment Act. The resolution notes that 1.9 million citizens of Assam were found not to have sufficient proof of citizenship and claims that “they are now likely to be stripped of their citizenship by quasi-judicial bodies known as Foreigners Tribunals.” And that is simply false. What Baldwin does not know, and what her ideologue informants do not tell her, is that when Assam’s government got the figures and commentary, it put any action on hold until the data could be scrutinized more closely and any glitches fixed. That’s what a democratic government does and not what it would do if it just wanted to strip minorities of their rights. And, Senator Baldwin, Assam is ruled by Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The good news is that Baldwin has not been able to get a single US Senator to co-sponsor her resolution, which has languished (untouched) in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since she introduced it on October 24, 2023. And that’s not for want of trying. I know for a fact that she reached out to several Democratic Senators, all of whom declined to support the resolution. So, this is not even a matter of partisanship or politics, but of ignorance and bigotry that informs Baldwin’s resolution. More good news, this resolution has almost no chance of passing. The bad news is that as long as Senators like Tammy Baldwin remain in Washington, the potential for more resolutions that blithely accept the false narrative that India persecutes non-Hindus also remains. Nor is that an idle threat, as we have seen recently with the left’s drumbeat against Israel and continued efforts at the local level to demonize India. We can expect such partisan efforts to remain a priority for India’s enemies with the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling BJP; as during Modi’s 2013 campaign, I dubbed him “the left’s favorite whipping boy.”
There is only one way US politicians will understand that they owe their constituents better, and have to validate allegations before slandering one of our greatest partners with false ones. And you are a big part of it.
While some officeholders are committed to certain positions and principles, most take positions based on what the people they serve want; and as I learned more years ago than I would like to admit, a politician’s first job is to get elected. If they see that one approach gets them there, they are likely to believe it reflects their voters and will take it. If they see it loses them votes, they are not going to take it. India’s friends and the NRI community here can send a strong message to all US lawmakers by helping to defeat Senator Baldwin this year. She is running for a third six-year term, and should be in a tight race. She appears to be ahead at the moment, but Wisconsin (for now) seems to be trending Republican. Her presumptive opponent, businessman Eric Hovde, has six opponents in the August GOP primary, but he has received all the major Republican endorsements and has a large fundraising lead over his opponents. The November election will be between Baldwin and Hovde. To send that strong message, help end the bigoted acceptance of anti-India slanders, and let Washington know how important the US-India relationship is; urge everyone you know in Wisconsin to make sure to vote for Baldwin’s opponent in November. Besides voting, people also can get involved by making calls, urging others to vote for Hovde, and make clear that this is a matter of fighting bigotry, anti-Asian bias (which will resonate with other voting blocs), or even volunteer or make donations to defeat Baldwin. With Hindus comprising about one percent of the state’s population, and Asians about three percent (the greatest number of whom are Indian); this sort of active, principled, effort could tip the scales in what all political prognosticators consider too close to call.
It also should be seen as a way for NRIs and Hindus to let all politicians know that they are a group to be reckoned with and that bias against them will no longer be tolerated. A strong finish will send a message to all US officeholders that they cannot simply accept the unverified claims of ideologues, or hold onto prejudicial assumptions about India and Hindus. It will also demonstrate that politicians cannot afford to ignore the power of this fast-growing demographic group.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or ideologies of the publisher, editor of this paper.
