IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, Feb 25: Hate is blind and once accepted and celebrated it expands its target and territory. This is exactly what the world is witnessing in the United States these days. Donald Trump was targeting Muslims in his presidential election campaign last year but now when he is sitting in the White House as President of the world’s largest democracy, not only Muslims, others are also falling to bullets of hate in America.
The latest victim is a son of our Indian soil — Srinivas Kuchibhotla who was shot dead by a white man in Kansas City of Missouri state couple of days ago. Alok Madasani, another Indian, was wounded in the shooting. Besides them, an American man identified as Ian Grillot also received bullet injuries when he intervened.
Soon after signing executive order banning nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries in January, President Trump targeted H1B visa policy that reports say would affect jobs of thousands of professionals from India.
When Trump was targeting Muslims in his speeches during presidential campaigns, not many of us denounced his remarks. Rather, some Hindu-right groups seemed happy and began praying for his victory. As soon as the news came in November that Trump has won the presidential election, members of Hindu Sena, a Hindu right group in New Delhi, came out on the streets and celebrated his victory. They distributed sweets among themselves and even offered some to Trump also – by taking sweets to his mouth in a big cut-out.
But as the hate campaign is now expanding its target, outfits like Hindu Sena are silent. They shouldn’t. They must speak and speak against hate there, here, anywhere. As they celebrated his victory, they should now urge him to stop hate campaigns and hate crimes in America.
