Prime Minister, Free the Dalits

Floor Speech

PRIME MINISTER, FREE THE DALITS -- (House of Representatives - October 26, 2005)

(Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, earlier this month a human rights conference was held on Capitol Hill on the issue of the Dalits of India. We learned that India's caste system was established 3,000 years ago. It allows a powerful few to dominate the many, but not everyone has a caste.

A group once called the Dalits, ``the untouchables,'' have none. They are literally outcast, some 250 to 300 million people. Often the Dalits are treated worse than animals, denied access to water, food, health care, even clothing, because they are deemed unworthy of these things. The vast injustice done to these people is indescribable. The Dalits are attacked not only physically, but various community members, sometimes even the police, attack them.

India is a great friend to America. As the world's largest democracy, it holds limitless potential; but just as slavery and the unequal treatment of African Americans blemished our record for much of our history, so the treatment of Dalits will hold our friend India back.

Countries that protect the rights and freedoms of all people are more stable and more prosperous. Once America came to accept that all citizens were equal and deserved equal opportunity to build a better life, we became a stronger Nation, and our calls for freedom elsewhere carry more credibility, because we grant it to all of our citizens. If they free the Dalits, India's will, too.

Source