Acknowledging the problem in wake of growing attacks on the Hindus and their way of life, the USA state of Georgia recently passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia
In its latest report of 2021, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), an American-based research organisation revealed that the country had witnessed a 1000 per cent rise in the anti-Hindu narrative and attacks, a news9livecom opinion blog stated.
“You are a disgusting Hindu”. “You dirty Hindu”. This was some of the racially abusive stuff that a Non-Resident Indian living in the Taco Bell area of Richmond in the USA state of California had to bear on the night of August 21, 2022. Krishnan Jayaraman was at a Mexican restaurant when he was accosted by Tejinder Singh, a Sikh man also of Indian origin. This incident was reported five days after an American woman in the state of Texas was detained for racially abusing and assaulting some women of Indian origin. The accused could be heard telling the group to ‘go back to India”.
On August 19, 2022, Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Queens borough of New York City was vandalised. The statue standing outside the Shri Tulsi Mandir in Richmond Hill for the past several years was sledgehammered while the back of the fallen statue was spray painted with the Hindi word ‘Kutta’ (dog). It was the second attack on Gandhi’s statue within a week in the USA. Earlier, in February 2022, another life-sized statue of Gandhi was destroyed in the Manhattan area of New York City.
Acknowledging the problem in wake of growing attacks on the Hindus and their way of life, the USA state of Georgia recently passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia.
Georgia, the eighth most populous state is the first American state to do so. “Hinduism is one of the world’s largest and oldest religions with over 1.2 billion adherents in over 100 countries and encompasses an array of diverse traditions and belief systems with values of acceptance, mutual respect and peace”, said the resolution while observing that the American-Hindu community has been a major contributor to diverse sectors such as medicine, science, engineering, Information technology, finance, hospitality etc.
The resolution further said that there have been “documented instances of hate crimes against Hindu Americans over the last few decades in many parts of the country” and that Hinduphobia is “exacerbated and institutionalised by some in the academia who support the dismantling of Hinduism”.
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According to some experts, the narrative that Hindus are aggressors is controlled by Islamists, Khalistanis and the ‘compromised- media’ in these countries which does not give a true picture of the reality
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As a result, the anti-India protests in these countries have become synonymous with anti-Hindu sentiments. The Indian government needs to go into the depth of the problem and take suitable measures
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At the same time, western democracies need to show serious intent and take strict actions to check hate crimes against Hindus. Georgia has shown the way others need to follow
From the US to Canada, the United Kingdom to Australia, incidents of attacks on Hindus and their way of life have been on the rise world over. In its latest report of 2021, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), an American-based research organisation revealed that the country has witnessed a 1000 per cent rise in the anti-Hindu narrative and attacks. Joel Finkelstein, co-founder of NCRI explained that ‘white supremacists’ and ‘Islamists’ have been instrumental in creating the atmosphere of toxicity and hostility against the Hindus.
Earlier, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data for 2020 also pointed in this direction. It said the increase in crime has been up by about 500 per cent.
Apart from ‘white supremacists’ and ‘Islamic radicals’, Khalistan-advocating Sikhs have also been vocal in attacks on the Hindus in Canada. The government of Canada, in its internal report (Statistics Canada), has witnessed a more than 70 per cent surge in hate crimes between 2019 to 2021, and Hindus are major victims of this. The story in the United Kingdom is no different.
Its Home Office data shows a 200 per cent rise in hate crimes against Hindus in just four years. As per information, the racial and violent attacks on the properties and temples of Hindus have gone up from 58 in 2017-18 to 166 in 2020-21.
Hindus are a vibrant community and have contributed almost everywhere to the prosperity of the country or community they are part of, besides occupying leadership positions in the field of information technology, science, and sports while playing within the rules of ethics and morality.
Several people of Indian origin, especially Hindus occupy top positions in the government of the US and Canada. Why then, is the West becoming more and more unsafe for the Hindus facing hate and bigotry frequently?
According to some experts, the narrative that Hindus are aggressors is controlled by Islamists, Khalistanis and the ‘compromised- media’ in these countries which does not give a true picture of the reality. As a result, the anti-India protests in these countries have become synonymous with anti-Hindu sentiments. The Indian government needs to go into the depth of the problem and take suitable measures. At the same time, western democracies need to show serious intent and take strict actions to check hate crimes against Hindus. Georgia has shown the way others need to follow.
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