indica News Bureau-
Indian-origin Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the last-standing well-known woman in the race for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, tweeted this week that “Hinduphobia” is real in the US, drawing strong reactions amid tensions between Hindus and Muslims over the South Asian country’s controversial citizenship law.
“Unfortunately, Hinduphobia is very real. I’ve experienced it directly in each of my campaigns for Congress & in this presidential race. Here’s just one example of what Hindus face every day in our country. Sadly, our political leaders & media not only tolerate it, but foment it,” Gabbard posted on Twitter.
Additionally, Gabbard, a practicing Hindu, retweeted a US-based psychiatrist from Kashmir, Dr. Dr. Sheenie Ambardar, who shared a screenshot of an anonymous Facebook post with the comment: “Blatantly biased news & anti-Hindu propaganda has real-world consequences for innocent people.”
The anonymous Facebook post described an alleged confrontation between two women and their Uber driver, who accused Indian Hindus of “killing Muslims in New Delhi” during recent violence in the Indian capital, according to published reports. The driver then allegedly asked the women to get out of his car. The account of the alleged incident has not been verified.
Gabbard’s tweet has been reposted on some right-wing news sites and talked about on network news, while critics accuse the Hindu-American congresswoman of being a fascist over her alleged anti-Muslim sentiments and her support for Modi and his policies, according to published reports.
The recent violence began late last month between Hindus and Muslims after a member of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s Hindu nationalist ruling party, threatened to displace a group of Muslim women protesters by force. The women were demonstrating against Modi’s Citizenship Amendment Act.
The death toll related to the violence is 50 and rising, according to reports.
Last month, Modi hosted US President Donald Trump, and his wife Melania, for a 36-hour visit. The neighborhoods of northeast New Delhi were burnt down, and mosques desecrated during the visit, according to published reports. .
Rutgers University professor Audrey Truschke said Gabbard’s “being a Hindu nationalist is horrifying and disqualifying,” and that she has “yet to comment on the Hindu nationalist pogrom in Delhi last week that left more than 45 people dead.”
Gabbard, the first Hindu woman elected to the US Congress, was raised in Hawaii by a Hindu mother and Catholic father. She is a US war veteran, having served two tours of duty in the Middle East and is now a major in the US Army National Guard.
