Donald Trump tweeted that 72% of refugees admitted into the USA in between 3rd February 2017 and 11 February 2017 come overwhelmingly from the seven Islamic countries, namely, from SYRIA, IRAQ, SOMALIA, IRAN, SUDAN, LIBYA & YEMEN ( Why are these nations mentioned in capital letters? Because that’s how the US President wrote. Why? Ask him).
72% of refugees admitted into U.S. (2/3 -2/11) during COURT BREAKDOWN are from 7 countries: SYRIA, IRAQ, SOMALIA, IRAN, SUDAN, LIBYA & YEMEN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2017
As soon as he wrote this, Twitter erupted in protests. But while talking about Muslim ban, many have forgotten that there are other minority groups like Hindus, who too are suffering and are equally vulnerable.
A journalist named Mythili Sampathkumar was left aghast after her dad a US citizen was strip searched in the USA. She has claimed that the Muslim ban has also affected the rest of the minority groups. She also blamed Indian Americans who voted for Donald Trump and said:
You still voted for him bec you (Hindus mostly) thought, well we’re not Muslims or Mexicans. That means nothing – we’re in this together.
The journalist also said that the Muslim Ban affects her and said that her father didn’t argue and did what he was told.
She explained her predicament in the following words:
He wears a sacred thread (we’re Brahmin), so you can imagine how this has shaken him. He’s 68 and a U.S Citizen on a domestic flight. It’s hard not to think it’s all related.
3. With the #MuslimBan, but it's clear it effects all us. He didn't argue and did what he was told. He wears a sacred thread (we're Brahmin)
— Mythili Sampathkumar (@MythiliSk) January 30, 2017
Is she alone? No. Another Hindu woman named Aravinda Pillalamarri told the Bel Air Board of Town commissioners at their town meeting which fell on January 17, that on of December 21 she was stopped by a police officer when she was walking around.
She told the audience that after a while a police supervisor arrived and told her that she wasn’t free to leave because ‘she was under criminal investigation’ and asked why she was not carrying her identification documents.
This despite the fact that there are many Hindus who supported Donald Trump. But whose fault is it? Because after all, to be considered an ‘American’, as a survey showed, one may need to be a Christian first.
If that is worrisome, then here is the case of another Hindu woman who had a harrowing experience when she was abused while standing in a store and had a guy bark in her face and say “foreigners, fucking foreigners”.
And on his way out, she wrote on her Facebook account, the man stared at me and my child praised the lord for Trump.
Why accuse Donald Trump, when racial tensions existed even before him?
These are a few cases and yet, it seems, that the American media while being obsessed with Trump and the Muslim ban has failed to acknowledge that Hindus are also under fire and this oversight is not novel either.
No one can blame Donald Trump for this and his Hindu supporters are unlikely to go back and revise their positions any sooner considering that in recent times, even before Trump, there have been racial tensions in the country and it is not fair to the new President to be accused of everything that is wrong in the country or whatever his supporters do. To be fair, he openly extended his support to the Hindus too, especially for the persecuted Bangladesh and Kashmiri Hindus, a benign gesture that won him, even more support from the minority community and put him ahead of a distant and cold Hillary Clinton.
Yet, since Hindus were one of his major supporters, not just in the USA but also in India, hence, they may feel themselves on a slippery ice when it comes to supporting Trump if these attacks on the Hindus do not stop.
Hinduphobia raises its ugly head in the USA
South African Hindus left aghast after Hindu woman is accused of witchcraft
By Namta Gupta
