Religious polarisation in India seeping into US diaspora

In Edison, New Jersey, a bulldozer, which has develop into an emblem of oppression of India’s Muslim minority, rolled down the road throughout a parade marking that nation’s Independence Day.

At an occasion in Anaheim, California, a shouting match erupted between folks celebrating the vacation and people who confirmed as much as protest violence towards Muslims in India.

Indian-Americans from numerous religion backgrounds have peacefully co-existed stateside for a number of many years. But these current occasions within the US — and violent confrontations between some Hindus and Muslims final month in Leicester, England — have heightened issues that stark political and non secular polarisation in India is seeping into diaspora communities.

Hindu nationalism has break up the Indian expatriate group simply as Donald Trump’s presidency polarised the US, stated Varun Soni, dean of non secular life on the University of Southern California (USC). It has about 2,000 college students from India, among the many highest within the nation.

Soni has not seen these tensions floor but on campus. But he stated USC obtained blowback for being one in all greater than 50 US universities that co-sponsored a web-based convention referred to as “Dismantling Global Hindutva.” Hindutva is completely different from Hinduism, an historic faith practiced by about 1 billion folks worldwide that emphasises the oneness and divine nature of all creation.

Soni stated it’s essential that universities stay locations the place “we are able to talk about issues that are grounded in facts in a civil manner,” But, as USC’s head chaplain, Soni worries how polarisation over Hindu nationalism will have an effect on college students’ non secular well being.

“If someone is being attacked for their identity, ridiculed or scapegoated because they are Hindu or Muslim, I’m most concerned about their well-being – not about who is right or wrong,” he stated.

Anantanand Rambachan, a retired school faith professor and a training Hindu who was born in Trinidad and Tobago to a household of Indian origin, stated his opposition to Hindu nationalism and affiliation with teams towards the ideology sparked complaints from some at a Minnesota temple the place he has taught faith courses.

He stated opposing Hindu nationalism typically leads to costs of being “anti-Hindu,” or “anti-India,” labels that he rejects.

On the opposite hand, many Hindu Americans really feel vilified and focused for his or her views, stated Samir Kalra, managing director of the Hindu American Foundation in Washington, D.C.

“The space to freely express themselves is shrinking for Hindus,” he stated, including that even agreeing with the Indian authorities’s insurance policies unrelated to faith can lead to being branded a Hindu nationalist.

Pushpita Prasad, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Hindus of North America, stated her group has been counseling younger Hindu Americans who’ve misplaced buddies as a result of they refuse “to take sides on these battles emanating from India.”

Rajiv Varma, a Houston-based Hindu activist, stated tensions between Hindus and Muslims within the West aren’t a mirrored image of occasions in India however reasonably stem from a deliberate try by “religious and ideological groups that are waging a war against Hindus.”

Rasheed Ahmed, co-founder and govt director of the Washington D.C.-based Indian American Muslim Council, stated he’s saddened “to see even educated Hindu Americans not taking Hindu nationalism seriously.” He believes Hindu Americans should make “a fundamental decision about how India and Hinduism should be seen in the US and the world over.” “The decision about whether to take Hinduism back from whoever hijacked it, is theirs.”