Hinduphobia on surge in US: Congressman Thanedar vows to fight hate crimes

Amid the surge in anti-Hindu incidents in the United States, an Indian-American Democrat Congressman has pledged to fight against Hinduphobia, asserting that there “should be no place for hatred” in America.
Shri Thanedar and representatives from various India-American groups attended a HinduAction-organised meeting at the US Capitol on Wednesday, PTI reported.
Citing various hate crimes against the Hindu community, Thanedar said: “We see California SB403 (the bill banning caste discrimination) and that’s just the beginning. The attacks on our temples and attacks on Hindus all over the world.”
“We need to fight this phobia, bigotry, and hatred. There should be no place for hatred in America, no place for hatred against people’s religious rights,” he added.
In the past few months, multiple incidences of violent attacks on Indian students have been reported in the United States. Several Indian origin students, including Vivek Saini, Akul Dhawan, and Neel Acharya, found dead under mysterious circumstances.
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Suhag Shukla, a member of the Hindu American Foundation, emphasised the presence of anti-Hindu bias, citing recent increase in hate crimes on college campuses.
Expressing concern over Khalistan movement, Shukla said: “The perpetrators that have been caught on video with all the temple attacks that I’ve mentioned, all the street attacks that I’ve mentioned, the statements that were made during the commission of the attacks, the nature and content of the graffiti all point to the Khalistan movement.”
Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking an independent Sikh state carved out of India.
Shukla further mentioned that when people from Sikh community call out the Khalistan movement, they get “physically attacked”.
Referring to SB403, she stated there is institutionalised prejudice in the US.
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Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur Sunder Iyer, who is also the victim of targeted hate, shared his experience and urged the Congress members to allocate a budget to probe the California Civil Rights Department, stating that an agency that “does not represent the truth harms all Americans”.
“Several of my colleagues at Cisco and many other companies across California will be willing to give testimony. They must not live their lives in fear and their voices must not be suppressed,” he said.
Tejal Shah from the Hindu Temple Empowerment Council noted that the perpetrators of multiple crimes have yet to be identified.
She recalled instances where police refused to file a report and also highlighted attacks on many Hindu temples.
In a joint announcement, HinduAction and Namaste-Shalom Multifaith Alliance requested Congress to address anti-Hindu hatred with a resolution.