Indian-American congressman speaks out against ‘Hinduphobia’ in US

An Indian-American Democratic congressman has joined a group of Hindu leaders and organizations in calling out growing “Hinduphobia” in the United States.

Shri Thanedar is seeking to combat the growing hate crimes against the Hindu community in the US, news agency PTI reported.

Representatives from various Indian-American organizations gathered at the US Capitol on Wednesday for a gathering organized by HinduAction.

“We’re seeing a lot of Hinduphobia,” Sanidhar, a Democrat, said at a meeting with Hindu leaders and organizations.

“We’re seeing California SB403 (a bill that bans caste discrimination) and that’s just the beginning. The attacks on our temples and the attacks on Hindus around the world… We need to fight this phobia, bigotry and hatred .There should be no place in America without hatred, without hatred against the religious rights of people,” he added.

Suhag Shukla, a representative of the Hindu Foundation of America, highlighted the prevalence of anti-Hindu prejudice, especially on college campuses.

She noted a recent increase in hate crimes and a lack of understanding of Hinduism among law enforcement.

Shukla also raised concerns about institutionalized discrimination, citing California’s SB403 as an example.

“All the temple attacks that I mentioned, all the street attacks that I mentioned, the comments made during the attacks, the nature and content of the graffiti were captured on video. Pointing to the Khalistan movement,” she said.

“When people within the Sikh community speak out against the movement, they are physically attacked,” Shukla said.

Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya also Condemns the vandalism of Gouri Shankar Mandir, a Hindu temple in Brampton, Canadawas classified as a hate crime in Parliament, noting that “Hinduphobia turned into a physical attack”.

Personal stories of facing hatred

Sunder Iyer, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and victim of targeted hate, told attendees that he has discovered how civil rights agencies have been able to racially profile and harmfully stereotype Indian Americans.

“I respectfully ask members of Congress to allocate budget within the Department of Justice to investigate the California Department of Civil Rights and for the greater good of the United States. An agency that does not represent the truth harms all Americans. Several of my colleagues at Cisco and many other companies in California would like to Give testimony. They cannot live in fear and their voices cannot be silenced,” Iyer said.

Tejal Shah of the Hindu Temple Empowerment Committee spoke about the mental distress caused by recent attacks on Hindu temples.

She mentioned that temple priests suffered mental distress, shock and trauma, noting that in some cases the perpetrators of these attacks were unidentified and in one case the police refused to file a report as she detailed attacks on several temples .

HinduAction and the Namaste-Shalom Multifaith Alliance later issued a joint statement calling on Congress to pass a resolution formally recognizing the growing problem of anti-Hindu hatred.