India's Religious Polarization Is Seeping Into The US Diaspora

LOADING ERROR LOADING In Edison, New Jersey, a bulldozer, which has become a symbol of oppression of India’s Muslim minority, rolled down the street during a parade marking that country’s Independence Day. On the other hand, many Hindu Americans feel vilified and targeted for their views, said Samir Kalra, managing director of the Hindu American Foundation in Washington, D.C. “The space to freely express themselves is shrinking for Hindus,” he said, adding that even agreeing with the Indian government’s policies unrelated to religion can result in being branded a Hindu nationalist. Shakeel Syed, executive director of the South Asian Network, a social justice organization based in Artesia, California, said he regularly hears from his sisters and senses a “pervasive fear, not knowing what tomorrow is going to be like.” Syed grew up in the Indian city of Hyderabad in the 1960s and 1970s in “a more pluralistic, inclusive culture.” “My Hindu friends would come to our Eid celebrations and we would go to their Diwali celebrations,” he said. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims in the West, he said, are not a reflection of events in India but rather stem from a deliberate attempt by “religious and ideological groups that are waging a war against Hindus.” Varma believes India is “a Hindu country” and the term “Hindu nationalism” merely refers to love for one’s country and religion. Rasheed Ahmed, co-founder and executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Indian American Muslim Council, said he is saddened “to see even educated Hindu Americans not taking Hindu nationalism seriously.” He believes Hindu Americans must make “a fundamental decision about how India and Hinduism should be seen in the U.S. and the world over.” “The decision about whether to take Hinduism back from whoever hijacked it, is theirs.” Zafar Siddiqui, a Minnesota resident, is hoping to “reverse some of this mistrust, polarization” and build understanding through education, personal connections and interfaith assemblies.