Release | Coalition Urges President Trump to Encourage Prime Minister Modi to Make a Shared Foundation for Strategic Partnership Protecting Christians, Others
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
February 13, 2025
CONTACT:
Dede Laugesen [email protected]
Coalition Urges President Trump to Encourage
Prime Minister Modi to Make a Shared Foundation for Strategic Partnership Protecting Christians, Others
Reprise of Admonition to Nigeria’s Buhari in Order with Indian Government
WASHINGTON, D.C.— In the run-up to President Donald Trump’s bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Save the Persecuted Christians Coalition wrote the President an urgent message on behalf of millions of Indian followers of Jesus Christ and others who, together, represent an actual majority of India’s population. The latter include other minority faith communities and immense numbers of individuals deemed by Hindus to be lower caste.
The letter signed by Save the Persecuted Christians’ President Frank J. Gaffney and Executive Director Dede Laugesen describes the hardship on those being persecuted or otherwise marginalized in Indian society. It begins by thanking President Trump for his commitment to persecuted Christians and religious tolerance.
The letter also calls to mind a moment Mr. Trump seized during his first term in the course of an official visit seven years ago by the then-Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to address jihadist genocidal attacks on Nigeria’s many Christian communities:
We believe you could have even more profound and beneficial impact if you speak with PM Modi about his party’s mistreatment of: our Christian brothers and sisters in India, other religious minorities and the subjugated lower caste. Together, they make up the vast majority of India’s population. Discrimination against them prevents their full access to the economy and impedes India’s emergence as a great trade and strategic partner of the United States – especially in countering the Chinese Communist Party’s ambition to achieve regional and ultimately global hegemony.
The Coalition letter concludes:
By holding Prime Minister Modi accountable for ending religious freedom and human rights violations in India – in particular by repealing discriminatory anti-conversion laws and ending caste-profiling – you can do him and both of our countries a great favor: Such political cover can clear the way for internal reforms needed to create a durable foundation for the sort of strategic U.S.-India partnership the times require.
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CONTACTS: Dede Laugesen, [email protected]