I was in the USA for a month recently, during which I interacted with a cross-section of Americans, including Black people, intellectuals, and Hindu Americans. I even had long chats with Hindu youth in a few cities. My stay everywhere was with my friends from India, i.e. local Hindu families.

I could not help, but reflect on my earlier interactions with email groups during the Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton elections, and personal conversations with many Indian Americans, including Muslims, during my earlier trip in December 2019. I experienced a huge upheaval in Hindu society about how they look at American politics as US citizens.

During the Clinton-Trump battle, I saw a big divide between the traditional Democrat supporters among the Hindu community and the new-age Republicans. Democrats, being the vocal majority at that time, were more aggressive. The Democratic Party was the party for all immigrants by default, and Indians were no different. However, the younger citizens and the American-born citizens were no more bound by the reflexive sympathy for Democrats. The political divide was so bitter that once I commented on a group, why were they fighting with each other? Why could they not come up with a Hindu agenda and talk to their respective candidates that this is our agenda, whichever candidate wins.

Hindus do not seek any favour because they have risen with hard work without seeking any favours. The only thing that worries and irritates Hindus is the way their religion is presented in education and the way they are misrepresented in public discourse. I was surprised at that time to hear from some senior Hindus that “we do not have that kind of lobbying power". However, since I did not have any stakes in American politics, I just let it pass. I had also told my hardcore Democrat friends that unless Clinton came up with a clear stand on Islamic terrorism and radicalism, she would lose. And she lost.

In the next election, we had the spectacle of Hindus falling for Kamala Harris, as one of their own, despite her never accepting this ownership, except for a few public shows........

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