Washington: Whilst the 2016 political election campaign around this time, at the time candidate, Donald Trump, tended to an enormous, impressive rally of thousands of cheering Hindu – the first time a US presidential candidate connected with the supporters of the faith
Yet, this time there won’t be such an occasion.
The Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC), which designed the occasion on October 15, 2016, in New Jersey, is scaling down its campaign for Trump and won’t hold occasions for him except if he gives a confirmation on immigration reform, as per its originator Shalabh Kumar.
Kumar disclosed to IANS that he and the group’s individuals would keep on supporting Trump and urge Hindus to decide in favor of him, however won’t hold any campaign events like the one that was held in 2016 which was attended by more than 8,000 individuals.
In the US, electioneering dependent on religious appeal is lawful and common at all levels.
Shalabh Kumar stated “We are asking all our members to support Trump in their individual capacity to vote for Trump and for Republicans in general. But in terms of major campaign events like what we did in New Jersey and what we did with the ‘Apki Baar Trump Sarkar’ commercial which we aired every day, we are waiting for a meeting with the President to clarify his position particularly on the Green Card backlog.”
He declared that the RHC had around 50,000 individuals and on the grounds that the Hindus originated from everywhere the world, their number in the US surpassed that of immigrants coming directly from India and their children.
Whilst the Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden isn’t completing large campaign rallies in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump has been holding them and it should be likely to compose a Hindu occasion for him.
The Trump campaign, in the interim, has dispatched an effort under its own umbrella called the ‘Hindu Voices for Trump’, as a major aspect of a multi-pronged drive that additionally independently targets Sikhs, Muslims, and Indian-Americans in general.
In any case, it has been acting low key, not conducting any large campaign occasions for Hindus and it accentuates religious liberty and economic opportunities.
For the first time ever, Democrats have additionally contacted individuals from the religion with a “Hindus for Biden” activity initiated by Raja Krishnamoorthi, an individual from the House of Representatives.
Previously, the Democrats’ unequivocal effort had been to religions like Islam and Judaism and excluded Hinduism.
Taking note of the change in the Democratic Party, Kumar made a witty remark: “We have at least made the Hindu word popular.”
He stated that as a “very issue-situated, policy-oriented organization”, the RHC requires responsibility from Trump on immigration reform and clearing the Green Card backlog, which it considers is necessary to the community and would increase its campaign for him whenever it is received.
While Trump discusses merit-based immigration there are around 1,000,000 individuals gotten caught up in the Green Card backlog and “they are in great pain”, he said.
The RHC needs a commitment from Trump that he would present a system of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) that would permit individuals waiting for at least five years or more for their Green Cards to indefinitely work and live in the US till their numbers come available, he said.
As indicated by Republican Senator Mike Lee’s estimation, the backlog is terrible to the point that for certain Indians the wait could take 195 years for a Green Card, which gives perpetual immigrant status and places the recipients in the pipeline to full citizenship.
The EAD would be a bridge to Green Card pending immigration reforms to clear the backlog, Kumar said.
Trump would likewise need to come out more unmistakably on the Citizenship Amendment Act that gives facilitated Indian citizenship to Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist refugees escaping oppression in Islamic countries in South Asia, and on the Indian government pulling back the special constitutional status of Kashmir.
In 2016, Kumar said “we had an agreement from Trump” on four issues that the RHC raised “before we supported his and went all the way for him”.
The issues were considering Pakistan responsible for terrorism, the offer of cutting-edge weapons systems to India, the supply of liquid natural gas to India, and furthering US-India relations, he said.
Candidate Trump consented to the conditions and as president, he has delivered on them, Kumar said.
That is an explanation behind the uptick in support among Indian-Americans for Trump, he said.
With respect to the immigration issue, he stated: “There is bipartisan support and we want to make sure that that issue gets taken care of, whether Trump gets re-elected, which, of course, we want — I am a hard-core conservative – (and) at the same time looking at the reality on the ground, if Vice President Biden become the president, we want that issue to be taken care of.”
with IANSinput
