Washington, D.C. (August 3, 2011) – The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) applauded Congressman Robert Dold (R-IL) for his remarks last week on the floor of the House of Representatives condemning the daily persecution against Bangladesh’s Hindu minority. Click here to see a video of the remarks.

“Since 1947, 49 million Hindus in Bangladesh have gone missing according to Sachi [Dastidar],” read Congressman Dold. “And a recent Hindu American Foundation report concluded that the Hindus of Bangladesh continue to be victims of daily acts of murder, rape, kidnapping, temple destruction, and physical intimidation. Dr. Richard Benkin, an authority on human rights abuses in Bangladesh, has described to me on several occasions the atrocities and human rights abuses suffered by Bangladesh’s Hindus that he personally has verified.”
According to HAF’s human rights report, Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora, A Survey of Human Rights 2010, Hindus in Bangladesh comprised 30% of the population in 1947, while today they comprise less than 10%. Just this month, Bangladesh’s parliament passed a constitutional amendment retaining Islam as the official state religion, despite 2008 election promises made by the current Awami League government to restore the secular 1972 constitution. The move has been seen by many as a compromise by the ruling Awami League, which has been branded as anti-Islamic by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and several Islamist organizations. Secular groups and religious minorities, including Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians, have expressed serious concerns over the amendment and its implications on religious freedom.
“Voices calling out the Bangladesh government for its history of human rights abuses against Bangladeshi Hindus is once again a part of the Congressional record,” said Prof. Ramesh Rao, the editor of the HAF report that Congressman Dold cited. “HAF will continue to work with other advocates to ensure that the issue of Bangladeshi Hindus remains an urgent concern and, that the U.S. Congress soon considers legislation that predicates financial aid on addressing those concerns.”
Congressman Dold’s remarks were made in reference to his support of H.R. 440, which calls for a State Department Special Envoy who would be authorized to represent the United States in cases relevant to religious freedom in the “priority countries of Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan.“ The bill passed the House of Representatives yesterday and is now pending review by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under bill number S.1245.
“Promotion of religious freedom in countries with abysmal human rights records, such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, is vital to our national security interests, and we hope such legislation will have the teeth to curb the funding of rogue regimes,” added Samir Kalra, Esq., HAF Director and co-author of its human rights report.

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Satya Dosapati is an activist based in the US working on causes for both India and US. He played an instrumental role in the introduction of paper trail for India’s Electronic Voting Machines called VVPAT that put Indian democracy on a strong foothold by bringing in top international experts and demonstrating the vulnerabilities in Indian EVMs working with local organizations and CEC Qureshi. He organized an All American Rally for Trump bringing in various ethnic communities together in support of Trump Presidential Election that was acknowledged by Republican party and then candidate Trump. The event was covered by most of the national media in Pennsylvania. He is well known for challenging 100 and 30 million dollar lawsuits from Sonia Gandhi proxies in the US when he coordinated a UN protest against Sonia Gandhi representing Mahatma Gandhi values at UN and taking a full page Ad in New York Times exposing her. He has several successes in an activist movement from forcing Andhra Pradesh CM YSR in 2007 in banning conversions inside Hindu temples, bringing attention to the plight of backward caste minor girls in West Bengal being kidnapped and thrown into sexual slavery through love jihad. He led a protest against University of Pennsylvania (Wharton economic forum) for dropping Narendra Modi from keynote speech because of allegations of some leftist professors and got a (private) apology from UPenn President . He initiated the first anti-corruption conference working with Ajit Doval and Dr. Swamy before Anna Hazare protest at New Delhi Vivekananda International foundation and brought in top international anti-corruption personnel from UN (UNODC) and Europe (Eurodad) and other institutions. His YouTube presentation on Plunder of India by Sonia UPA received nearly 2 lacs hits. He was also engaged in animal rights movements in the US for health, environment, and compassion. He received his bachelors from IIT Chennai with graduate degrees in US and is pursuing a career in Telecom in the US. He is a conservative and proud member of the US National Rifle Association (NRA). His Koo id is @SatyaDosapati and several of his articles were published in PGurus and OpIndia news portals. His blog is https://SatyaBlog.org.