Rupa, you make my point when you & media orthodoxy conflate Hindu nationalism with Modi, hence India. Ergo, supporting US-India ties (nuclear deal, defense coop) & Indian policies=Hindu nationalism, & any policy disfavored by the ecosystem=anti-Muslim. (thread)
@HinduAmerican was founded in 2003 and promoted U.S-India ties throughout MMS govt.
@HinduAmerican believes that free speech, religious liberty & equality are principles that are good for Hindus in America and around the world are good for all people regardless of faith or none.
Is supporting U.S.-India ties, abrogation #Article370 to fight cross-border terror & promote KP resettlement, amnesty for religious minorities seeking refuge or end to govt. control of temples nationalism or parochial?
Why circumscribe freedom of religion issues as nationalism?
For the media ecosystem:
pro India=pro Hindu=Hindu nationalist=RSS=genocide=Islamophobia
"Hindu nationalism" has been weaponized to attack Hindu American candidates right now. We'll pass on the label, thanks.
@AmarShergillCA is a Democrat, but doesn't:
-deny connections to @FriedrichPieter's campaign to smear Hindu American candidates & donors
-deny his connections to a CA based Khalistan operative
-deny his attacks on @TulsiGabbard@RepBera & other Democrats
That a senior CA @TheDemocrats party leader is not condemning-but amplifying-attacks on only Hindu American candidates, is an election scandal of 2020 for our community.
My friend @dhume analogizes social media outrage over a racy depiction of the Goddess Kali with the beheading in France. Raises the Enlightenment. I agree that Hindu anger on social media is often crass/crude (experienced it!), but sharing some quick thoughts (thread)
Comparing inchoate tweets to a beheading in France or an attack on a politician in Bangalore over a FB post fails as an equivalence in my eyes. @dhume may be right in Hindu outrage seeming new when deities are defiled, but there's a reason certain speech was outlawed in India.
Muslim demands that certain speech be made off-limits led to hate speech laws in the Indian Constitution. Hindus reciprocating utilizing those extant laws is more a response to what they see as Muslim success in rendering speech that's intended to outrage or insulting as criminal
-hired Pakistani activist to write anti-India report hinduamerican.org/blog/us-religi…
-held multiple hearings perpetuating misinformation on India
-falsely alleged Indian hospitals separate patients based on religion
A disgraceful piece, and illustrates so much about popular #Hinduphobia in the media that @HinduAmerican highlights daily. Let's count the ways: 1) Ostensibly document recent events in #Kashmir, but completely erase #kashmiripandits. Not a single mention. None. (thread)
@HinduAmerican 2)Tie revocation of Art 370 to the tired, overused media narratives of Gujarat/Godhra, hagiography of @RanaAyyub, Ram temple, RSS, etc, without a single bit of original reporting. Could just read the annual (discredited) @USCIRF report instead. Goal is to make 370 about Islam (2)
@HinduAmerican@RanaAyyub@USCIRF 3)No context that the revocation of 370 is about equal protection, one law for all Indians, that those pushing for "self-determination" are pushing for a theocratic state. Dexter Filkins reported extensively on #ISIS in Iraq, but ignores #ISIS flags being unfurled in Kashmir. (3)