"CHICAGO RESOLUTION HONORING INDIA'S INDEPENDENCE AND
DEMOCRACY"
A RESOLUTION REAFFIRMING THE CITY OF CHICAGO AS A WELCOMING AND
INCLUSIVE CITY,
EXPRESSING THE CITY COUNCIL'S SOLIDARITY WITH CHICAGO'S SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY REGARDLESS OF RELIGION AND CASTE,
HONORING INDIA'S 74TH INDEPENDENCE DAY,
AND URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO CONDEMN VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF ANY FAITH WHILE UPHOLDING THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND SECULAR PROVISIONS OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
WHEREAS, recognizing that the City of Chicago is a sanctuary city, welcomes all regardless of their background; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago City Council expresses solidarity with Chicago's South Asian community regardless of religion and caste; and
WHEREAS, India will celebrate its 74th Independence Day on August 15, 2020, is the world's largest democracy, and has long shared a unique and important relationship with the United States in promoting common democratic values and human rights; and
WHEREAS, India is the birthplace of four major world religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population, and has historic Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian populations, with three of India's 29 states having a majority Christian population; and
WHEREAS, India's Constitution mandates a secular state that upholds the rights of all citizens to the freedoms of religion, expression, speech and to equal treatment before the law; and
WHEREAS, President Trump's bigoted policies within the U.S. including discriminating on religious grounds, targeting vulnerable communities, stripping citizenship, fabricating crises, and stoking hatred, have been mirrored by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, and their alarming ideology that Hindus are racially and culturally superior to others; and
WHEREAS, across ihe country, there lias been a surge in the number of mob lynchings and violence towards minorities...
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