Hindu American groups applaud Trump for promise to protect Hindu rights globally

Washington: Hindu American organisations have praised Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and former president, for his pledge to defend Hindus' human rights in the US and Bangladesh as well as to shield them from the "anti-religion agenda of the radical left.”

In his Diwali greetings on Thursday, Trump strongly "condemned the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities in Bangladesh", which he said remains in a “total state of chaos.” “It would have never happened on my watch. Kamala and Joe have ignored Hindus across the world and in America. They have been a disaster from Israel to Ukraine to our own Southern Border, but we will Make America Strong Again and bring back Peace through Strength,” he said.

“We will also protect Hindu Americans against the anti-religion agenda of the radical left. We will fight for your freedom. Under my administration, we will also strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi,” Trump had said.

Utsav Sanduja, founder and chairman of Hindus for America First told PTI in an interview that they are very grateful to President Trump.

"I'm very grateful to President Trump, eternally grateful and eternally appreciative. It sucks that Kamala Harris hasn't said anything about this issue. I think that there's going to be a big change in this election coming from this,” Sanduja said.

HinduAction also thanked Trump for his statement.

“As you rightly pointed out, the situation of the Hindus in Bangladesh is precarious. Below is a summary head with regularly updated data on the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh,” it said.

“Thank you President Trump for showing moral clarity and unequivocally condemning anti-Hindu pogroms in Bangladesh,” said Indian-American Nathan Punwani.

“Trump is a great man and, a great leader, full credit goes to him for wishing all the Hindus, Buddhists, and Jain Sikhs a very blessed Diwali. I think Trump really, really cares about these communities. He really understands what's going on in Bangladesh. He sees the ongoing persecution of Hindus. He is concerned about religious minorities that are suffering right now in that country,” Sanduja said.

“He has done such a great favour to millions of Americans who are concerned about human rights issues. To deliver on Diwali, such an auspicious day, such a magnificent thing. I'd like to say that many of us in the Hindu community played a small part in persuading President Trump's team, talking about this, giving briefings, and putting papers together,” he said.

“We are seeing that 60 per cent of Indian Americans are supporting Kamala Harris. In the last election, I think 68 per cent supported Biden. There's a dip in support for the Democratic presidential candidate. Trump, last time around, had 22 per cent of the Indian American community. Now he's at 32 per cent. This is according to Carnegie Endowment's latest survey on Indian American attitudes,” he said.

“With this statement, it's going to open up the eyes of more Indian Americans, Hindu Americans, and so on. They're going to give President Trump the vote,” Sanduja said.

With PTI inputs